Excellent Women
'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' Richard Osman
$20.69
- Paperback
304 pages
- Release Date
27 September 2022
Summary
INTRODUCED BY ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH
‘I’m a huge fan of Barbara Pym’ - RICHARD OSMAN
Mildred Lathbury is one of those excellent women who are often taken for granted. She is a godsend, ‘capable of dealing with most of the stock situations or even the great moments of life - birth, marriage, death, the successful jumble sale, the garden fete spoilt by bad weather’. Her glamorous new neighbours, the Napiers, seem to be facing a marital crisis. One cannot take si…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780349016078 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0349016070 |
| Author: | Barbara Pym, Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher: | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Imprint: | Virago Press Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 304 |
| Release Date: | 27 September 2022 |
| Weight: | 240g |
| Dimensions: | 196mm x 126mm x 22mm |
| Series: | Virago Modern Classics |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
One of the most endearingly amusing English novels of the twentieth century
I’m a huge fan of Barbara Pym – Richard Osman * Guardian *
I pick up her books with joy, as though I were meeting an old, dear friend who comforts me, extends my vision and makes me roar with laughter
One of the finest examples of high comedy
Why shouldn’t the lives of cardigan-wearing spinsters and fussy confirmed bachelors be the engines of some of the finest comic writing in English? Not only was Pym a comic genius but she was ever so wise * The Times *
I don’t think I’ve ever before recommended a novel as one that everybody will enjoy and yet - even with a certain assurance - I’m prepared to vouch for Excellent Women * Observer *
Barbara Pym is the rarest of treasures; she reminds us of the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life – Anne Tyler
One of the most endearingly amusing English novels of the twentieth century – Alexander McCall Smith
About The Author
Barbara Pym
Barbara Pym (1913-1980) was born in Oswestry, Shropshire. She was educated at Huyton College, Liverpool, and St Hilda’s College, Oxford, where she gained an Honours Degree in English Language and Literature. From 1958-1974, she worked as an editorial secretary at the International African Institute. Her first novel, Some Tame Gazelle, was published in 1950, and was followed by Excellent Women (1952), Jane and Prudence (1953), Less than Angels (1955), A Glass of Blessings (1958) and No Fond Return of Love (1961). During the sixties and early seventies her writing suffered a partial eclipse and, discouraged, she concentrated on her work for the Institute, from which she retired in 1974 to live in Oxfordshire. A renaissance in her fortunes came in 1977, when both Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil chose her as one of the most underrated novelists of the century. With astonishing speed, she emerged, after sixteen years of obscurity, to almost instant fame and recognition. Quartet in Autumn was published in 1977 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Sweet Dove Died followed in 1978, and A Few Green Leaves was published posthumously. Barbara Pym died in January 1980.
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