More Barbara Pym after Excellent Women

[yoshiblue]

Just finishing off Excellent Women today, my first Barbara Pym. It took me a while to get into it, but Ive really enjoyed it. It’s been a lovely relaxing read on my holiday this week.

Can Barbara Pym fans recommend what to try of hers next? My birthday coming up so will ask for a couple in paperback.

Crampton Hodnet. It's my favourite.

Just started Excellent Women last night. I'll watch this thread with interest!

Massive, massive Pym fan here! Read them all multiple times. Try Jane and Prudence next.

They're all wonderful, except, for some reason, The Sweet Dove Died, which I don't like half as much as the rest.

My favourites are An Unsuitable Attachment and Excellent Women.

Then A Glass of Blessings.
One lovely aspect of her books is that there's a Pym Universe, so characters in one book will be mentioned in another. Yes I'm obsessed. Jilly Cooper wrote a wonderful article about her books, easy to search for online.

I like them all but I tried to read them roughly in chronological order, mostly because it’s really fascinating to see the subtle changes in society throughout her writing, through to Quartet in Autumn. You see the same “types” appear again and again but the way they live and how other people react to them changes which is so interesting and well-observed.

Thank so much all...off to Google!

@Cocogreen will Mildred turn up again?!

And when you have gorged on Pym, can I recommend Stella Gibbons (she's so much more than Cold Comfort Farm) and then Clare Chambers' Small Pleasures?
You're in for such a wonderful time.

Excellent Women is my favourite - I envy you reading it for the first time, OP! My next two favourites are Some Tame Gazelle, and A Glass of Blessings. A Glass of Blessings is incredibly subtle; there is an entire unwritten story in it, which she trusts the reader to understand, and it's an especially funny book.

At some point, you ought to read Quartet in Autumn, which is a much darker book. It was her comeback book, after years in the wilderness, and it's really interesting to see how she writes about a world that has moved on.

... oh well, if we're doing recommendations, I recommend Diary of a Provincial Lady. It's absolutely hilarious.

Time40, I always think 'Quartet in Autumn' is Barbara Pym's 'Persuasion' - more mature, elegiac, certainly darker.

I read one set in Ealing about a young woman and there was a vicarage but can't remember much else. Very charming book

This lovely short film stars Patricia Routledge, and it's about Barbara Pym and her nomination for the Booker (for Quartet in Autumn):

Some tame gazelle is 99p on amazon at the moment. I also recommend The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne. It is a very thorough (and very long but worth it) description of her life. It covers all her books and how she based them on real people and events.

Aren't you all fabulous!

@Orangesarenottheonlyfruit I read Small Pleasures earlier this year and loved it. I am yet to read Cold Comfort Farm so should start with that maybe?

@Time40 I have Diary of a Provincial Lady on my TBR bookshelf!

@Time40 Yes! Diary of a PL is comedy gold. Just fabulous.

@yoshiblue Child Comfort Farm is great but her others are very different in tone and much closer to Pym in her studies of humanity. My favourites are Starlight and The Bachelor.

Nothing to add in terms of recommendations that haven't been mentioned already but just want to join the Barbara Pym love in! Excellent Women is my favourite but they're all wonderful. A Quartet in Autumn is probably my next favourite, although as a pp said slightly different in tone.

@Orangesarenottheonlyfruit thanks will look them up now

[quote yoshiblue]@Cocogreen will Mildred turn up again?! [/quote]
Yes! I can't remember where but she's mentioned once and possibly twice in different books so you find out what happens to her later on.

Oh fabulous! I've been reading the end of the book thinking it's a shame I won't know what happens to her! 🤣

I’ve just finished reading a book called “Bewildering Cares” by Winifred Peck that fits very much into the Pym mould - early wartime, diary of a vicar’s wife. Similar cast of characters and general vibe (and same amount of Church/theological detail that I have to skip, I’m afraid, after a while!).

I also enjoy Mollie Panter-Downes short stories; there’s a Persephone collection from the war that’s really interesting reading.

I'm a big fan of No Fond Return of Love.