There’s a saying: “Bad men fall in love with good women.” But no one can predict what will happen when a good woman loses her heart to a philanderer. Originally published in “Hearst’s International–Cosmopolitan” magazine in 1936, “Lily of the Valley” is A. J. Cronin’s longish short story (about 6,800 words) of sardonic, selfish playwright/composer Gilbert Lennard and his unexpected love for Phoebe Day, the kind, unaffected wife of a motion picture executive.
