Contact, and Other Stories

In Short

Frances Noyes Hart’s 1923 collection Contact, and Other Stories gathers eight tales centered on men, women, and the fragile connections binding them across changing worlds. From post-armistice London drawing rooms and quiet Connecticut homes to Parisian restaurants and tropical jungles, the stories explore romance, grief, duty, and sudden peril. Characters navigate the lingering shadows of the Great War and the restless hum of the modern age, finding redemption, tragedy, or unexpected companionship. The book endures through its sparkling dialogue, sharply observed social dynamics, and Hart’s deft balance of lightness and emotional gravity.

The Story

The collection opens in a flower-scented London drawing room where Janet, a weary woman approaching thirty, receives a shabby packet of belongings. As she listens to the night, an airplane’s roar overhead leaves her strangely quiet, joyous, and filled with a poignant sense of life's vast reach. In another tale, Larry Benedick frequents a peaceful Parisian restaurant run by Raoul, Jules, and Geneviève. Observing a companion read deeply from varied volumes, Benedick is moved to buy a quiet Colonial home in Connecticut. Elsewhere, Anne and Hal discuss the rare, unbreakable bond Anne shares with her husband, Derry. That fragile peace shatters when a phone call brings news of Derry’s sudden death in a New Jersey road-house alongside a mysterious girl named Lola, plunging Anne into a quiet, desolate grief.

In France, a woman named Laure tends to Philippe, a man bearing the heavy mental scars of war, while a spirited girl named Fair chafes against his indifference, realizing that the old courage required for battle has vanished. Later, in the lush setting of Green Gardens, seventeen-year-old Daphne encounters Stephen Fane, a man whose name was once forbidden in polite society. Despite her initial shock, she returns to him, drawn by his memory and a shared, lingering grace.

Shifting to international diplomatic circles, Lilah Lindsay navigates high-stakes conversations with a brilliant, disarming cleverness, handling men like O’Hara and various foreign representatives with white magic and unyielding charm. When O'Hara falls ill, she destroys an incriminating article about women in public life to protect him, sealing their devotion. In a lighter yet poignant romantic episode, a simple, determined duke falls for a sparkling Irish girl named Biddy, eager to bypass archbishops and find happiness beneath the cool stars. Finally, in the remote jungle, the Honourable Tony acts as a witty, irreverent adviser to an eccentric Eastern ruler, His Imperial Majesty Bhakdi. Amid comic-opera threats, pearl-handled automatics, and fleeing dancers, Tony maintains his mocking humor to the very end, meeting a fatal volley with an incredulous, smiling quip.

How It Unfolds

• The voyage begins: Janet sits tired and reflective in a London drawing room until the sound of a passing airplane awakens her spirit and prompts a silent toast to happy landings.
• The quiet restaurant: Larry Benedick finds peace at a Parisian table, observing a companion whose varied readings inspire him to purchase a tranquil Connecticut home.
• The sudden break: Anne speaks happily of her three-year marriage to Derry, only to receive a devastating phone call confirming his sudden death at a New Jersey road-house.
• The war's lingering shadow: Laure cares for the wounded Philippe in France, while Fair struggles with the realization that her wartime courage is entirely gone.
• The forbidden garden: Seventeen-year-old Daphne encounters the disgraced Stephen Fane at Green Gardens and, despite warnings, chooses to stay by his side.
• The diplomatic dance: Lilah Lindsay uses charm, sharp wit, and probing questions to disarm male colleagues and protect those she cares about.
• The midnight elopement: A wealthy duke abandons his formal heritage to sweep the spirited Biddy toward a hasty and joyful union.
• The jungle standoff: The Honourable Tony matches wits with an eccentric Eastern monarch and his guards, facing a lethal trap with unbroken laughter and lighthearted irony.

The People

Janet is a tired, self-aware woman who rediscovers joy and connection in the quiet spaces after the armistice. Larry Benedick is a disciplined man of means who translates quiet observation into generous, life-altering action for the woman he cherishes. Anne is a devoted wife whose deep happiness with her husband, Derry, turns to a numbing, gentle grief when he dies unexpectedly. Fair is a high-spirited, passionate young woman in France who longs for Philippe’s attention while resigning herself to the exhaustion left by war.

Stephen Fane is a social outcast marked by a shadowed past who finds unexpected redemption through the youthful defiance of seventeen-year-old Daphne. Lilah Lindsay is an exceptionally clever, violet-scented diplomat who manages powerful men with grace and secret strategy. O’Hara is an intense, suspicious representative whose guarded heart is eventually melted by Lilah’s unswerving candour. Biddy is a bright, witty Irishwoman who accepts a duke’s flawed past with serene humor and open affection. The Honourable Tony is an irreverent, fearless British adviser who treats dangerous political intrigues and pompous royalty as high-grade farce, facing his final moments with undiminished wit.

In Its Own Voice

Janet reflects on her weary state and the emotional distance of her past: "She looked every one of her thirty years--and mortally tired--and careless of both facts."

Philippe explains his profound gratitude for the return of peace and beauty after the horrors of battle: "Always I have loved Beauty better than life and once I thought that I had lost her for ever--and, see, she is mine again!"

The Honourable Tony mocks the dramatic pretension of his surroundings with characteristic levity: "You wouldn’t expect even a Chinaman to take that seriously, would you?"

What It's Really About

The collection investigates the enduring tension between rigid social expectations and the messy, vital realities of human emotion. Hart examines how individuals process grief and trauma, whether through the quiet endurance of post-war recovery or the sparkling armor of wit and charm. Beneath the romance and adventure lies a persistent inquiry into authenticity: the masks people wear, the codes they choose to follow or break, and the courage required to remain vulnerable in an unpredictable world. It asks what remains when grand duties fade, focusing intimately on the private compromises men and women make for love and survival.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love smart, briskly paced character studies with crackling dialogue and atmospheric period settings will find much to admire here. Reading Hart’s prose feels like sitting across from a brilliant conversationalist at a candlelit table—intimate, sharp, and gently ironic. While modern readers may occasionally note period attitudes or the stylized banter of the 1920s elite, the emotional core of these stories remains remarkably fresh. What stays with you is not just the suddenness of tragedy or the sparkle of romance, but the resilience of characters who face disillusionment and loss without ever losing their capacity for grace, wonder, and laughter.