Imprint
- Virago
- Virago
- Virago
- Little, Brown Audio
Virago Modern Classics, Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Romance, Stationery items
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Imprint
Virago
- Paperback Sep 27, 2022 | 9780349016078 | RRP $22.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Dec 1, 2008 | 9781844085262 | RRP $39.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Dec 20, 2011 | 9781405514798 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jul 21, 2011 | 9781405510851 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
Virago
- Paperback Sep 27, 2022 | 9780349016078 | RRP $22.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Dec 1, 2008 | 9781844085262 | RRP $39.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Dec 20, 2011 | 9781405514798 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jul 21, 2011 | 9781405510851 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
Virago
- Paperback Sep 27, 2022 | 9780349016078 | RRP $22.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Dec 1, 2008 | 9781844085262 | RRP $39.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Dec 20, 2011 | 9781405514798 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jul 21, 2011 | 9781405510851 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
Little, Brown Audio
- Paperback Sep 27, 2022 | 9780349016078 | RRP $22.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Dec 1, 2008 | 9781844085262 | RRP $39.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Dec 20, 2011 | 9781405514798 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jul 21, 2011 | 9781405510851 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00
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 sides in these matters, though it is tricky, especially as Mildred has a soft spot for dashing young Rockingham Napier. This is Barbara Pym's world at its funniest and most touching.
'One of the most endearingly amusing English novels of the twentieth century' ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH
'Barbara Pym is the rarest of treasures; she reminds us of the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life' ANNE TYLER
'Not only was Pym a comic genius but she was ever so wise' THE TIMES
Praise for Excellent Women: 'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' Richard Osman
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One of the finest examples of high comedy - Lord David Cecil
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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 - Marghanita Laski, OBSERVER
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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 - Jilly Cooper
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I'd sooner read a new Barbara Pym than a new Jane Austen - Philip Larkin
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A splendid humorous writer - John Betjeman
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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