# Old Jenny — Mary Olivier: A Life character guide

> Old Jenny in Mary Olivier: A Life by May Sinclair.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Jenny, Dear Jenny, poor Jenny

**First appearance:** 0000-book-i-infancy-1865-1869

## Snapshot

The Olivier family's longtime servant, whose devotion and ghostly remembered voice haunt Mary's reckoning with her mother.

## Who they are

Old Jenny is the household's faithful servant, a woman whose kindness and religious certainty form part of the texture of Mary's childhood. Long after her death, her voice returns in memory — praising the remarkable child, wailing over unbelief — as one of the many voices Mary must sort through to find her own. She matters because she embodies the uneducated, unquestioning devotion the Olivier women are expected to give, and because Mary's inability to simply believe as Jenny did is one of the earliest signs of who she will become.

## In the story

### [Chapter I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_olivier_a_life_se/chapters/chapter-i)

The nurse who cares for Mary in the nursery. She is tired and often unresponsive, but Mary loves her.

### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_olivier_a_life_se/chapters/chapter-viii)

Patient and tired, she is preparing to marry Mr. Spall, but dies before the wedding. Her death brings a profound change in Mary's perception.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_olivier_a_life_se/characters/old_jenny
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_olivier_a_life_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_olivier_a_life_se/characters