Harriet Said - by Beryl Bainbridge

Harriet Said... was the first novel written by Beryl Bainbridge. Although completed in 1958 it was rejected by several publishers in the late fifties, one of whom wrote: what repulsive little creatures you have made the two central characters, repulsive almost beyond belief! And I think the scene in which the two men and the two girls meet in the Tsar's house is too indecent and unpleasant even for these lax days. What is more, I fear that even now a respectable printer would not print it!.