About the Author

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.

Reviews

An entertainment that is funny, poignant, observant and truthful

Pym at her absolute funniest
*Daily Mail*

The rare charm of Crampton Hodnet is in the glimpse it offers of Pym's imagination as it pauses for a moment in perfect understanding of a character. That sympathy stretches beyond the horizon of comedy
*Time*

Brilliant, hilarious and so very, very English
*Daily Mail*

I'd sooner read a new Barbara Pym than a new Jane Austen
*PHILIP LARKIN*

Barbara Pym is the rarest of treasures; she reminds us of the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life
*Anne Tyler*

My favourite writer . . . I pick up her books with joy
*Jilly Cooper*

I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym
*Richard Osman*