Tag: Barbara Pym

No Fond Return of Love is another enjoyable Pym novel, but has elements that were slightly surprising to me after having previously read four of her more conventional novels. It was published in 1961 and has the feel and flavor of that era – I think Pym was really trying to ‘modernize’ her characters and plots to align with the new attitudes emerging during this time period.

The main character is another single, capable, respectable woman named Dulcie Mainwaring. She is an indexer for academic authors and as the novel opens she is attending an indexing conference where she meets Aylwin Forbes, a charming and handsome author, who she immediately becomes obsessed with. She has a habit of observing and researching various people she becomes interested in – these days I think we would probably call it stalking, but it is pretty harmless here. She finds out where Aylwin lives, where his brother preaches and even where his estranged wife resides. At the conference she also forms an interesting relationship with Viola Dace, another indexer who is prickly and odd, to say the least. Viola somehow ends up moving in with Dulcie and Dulcie’s teenage niece whom Forbes becomes attracted to. The various ins and outs of all of their love lives collide and lead to some humorous situations that also leave the reader a tiny bit sad.

One of the main differences of this novel to the other Pym’s I’ve read is that Dulcie is not a churchgoer. I have to admit I was slightly put out when I realized this because I love reading about the clergy and life surrounding the church so much. Fairly or not, I knew that this wasn’t going to be at the top of my Pym favorites list due to that. I also found the writing in No Fond Return of Love to be clunkier than in her other novels and the characters were less engaging. My favorite part of the book was when Dulcie meets Rodney and Wilmet Forsyth, the main characters in A Glass of Blessings, at a museum. Unfortunately, though, it only pointed out to me how wonderful her characters can be and how the characters in No Fond Return of Love fall short of her best.

Of the six Pym novels I’ve read this year, No Fond Return of Love is my least favorite. It just didn’t dazzle me like the others have.

Have you been disappointed by any of your favorite author’s books?

Wilmet Forsyth is a contentedly comfortable, youngish married woman who lives with her very nice husband, Rodney, and her energetic mother-in-law in the suburbs of London. She attends church and shops, but doesn’t really have much else to occupy her time. In essence, she is bored. So, when her best friend’s handsome, suave and mysterious brother, Piers Longridge, enters her life she sees him as a chance to bring some excitement and novelty into her life. Piers is as opposite to Rodney as is possible – he’s unreliable, prickly, can’t hold down a respectable job and admires Wilmet’s beauty and sense of style in a way that Rodney hasn’t for years. She develops an innocent infatuation with him and, though she knows it’s slightly foolish, she spends hours dreaming of ways she can see him again. But Piers isn’t the man she thought he was and she realizes that “there was no reason why my own life should not be a glass of blessings too. Perhaps it always had been without my realizing it.”

Pym’s typical understated humor sustains this charming story and it totally melted my heart. I love Wilmet – she’s smart and honest and good, though she doesn’t believe that about herself. I like her almost as much as I like Mildred Lathbury from Excellent Women. I also love the fascinating mixture of vicars, elderly spinsters, eccentric churchwardens, and other great characters that inhabit her novels. They bring color and vibrancy to all of her books.

These lovely novels are not naive, but they do have an admirable innocence that suits my reading tastes. Out of the four Pym’s I’ve now read I believe that this is my second favorite, after Excellent Women. Have you read Barbara Pym yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

The third Barbara Pym I chose to read this year is Some Tame Gazelle. I’ve seen a few bloggers claim this as their second favorite Pym, after Excellent Women of course, but I liked Jane and Prudence better. However, this novel does have its strong points and is another quietly charming and droll little Pym that is very enjoyable and thought provoking.

Some Tame Gazelle takes place in recognizable Pym territory – a small English village centered around the church. Belinda and Harriet are two spinster sisters who live together next door to the vicarage. Belinda has always been in love with the Archdeacon and Harriet has a “thing” for curates. Though she has many admirers and marriage proposals Harriet prefers to dote on the young curates who serve in the village to the point of becoming possessive of them. The plot ambles along describing the comings and goings in the village, the surprising couplings of some of the villagers, Belinda’s quiet devotion to the Archdeacon and Harriet’s more unrestrained passion for her curates.

As always, Pym is funny and her characters are outstanding, but I think this is an unsettling novel. It  has an underlying sadness that I did not feel from the other two Pym’s I’ve read. Belinda is a lovely person, but her constant devotion to a man who is a narcissistic jerk made her almost too pathetic to like. Her sister’s preference for curates over having a real relationship frustrated me. Is Pym trying to convey that fantasy relationships are better than actual ones? That it is easier to love someone you know will not love you back rather than accept a flawed and complex person to have a partnership with? After all, her male characters are not ones I would want to marry.

Barbara Pym’s novels seem like frothy, humorous confections that you wouldn’t think deserved a second thought. But I have given them much thought after reading each of the three I’ve finished so far. Her novels constantly challenge the idea of womanhood, wifehood and what it really means to be a single woman in a marriage-based society.

I am so glad that I started reading Barbara Pym. Her novels are deeply satisfying on many levels. I think that A Glass of Blessings will be my next one. Have you tried her yet?

After reading Excellent Women I knew, just knew, that I had to read more of Pym’s novels. Jane and Prudence was the second one I read and I did love it, not as much as Excellent Women, but love it I did.

The two women of the title are old friends from Oxford. Jane is older and was Prudence’s tutor at college. She’s now married to a vicar and still has a fondness for her specialty, 18th century poetry.  Prudence is 29, single, works at a mysterious office in London, has a crush on her boss and is undeniably beautiful and tries to be glamorous. The two women’s lives intersect again when Jane decides to set Prudence up with her new neighbor Fabian Driver, a handsome widower.

The story is told with Pym’s signature wit and gentle handling of the absurdity of human beings and their quirks. Jane is not your typical vicar’s wife; she can’ t cook to save her life, her housekeeping skills are extremely below average and she always looks a mess. Yet she is very interested in people and likes the interaction with them that a vicar’s wife is privileged with. She feels her inadequacies keenly, but after 20 years of marriage she has learned not to let her lack of traditional skills bother her.

Prudence is an altogether different sort of woman. She relishes the domestic arts, dresses beautifully and is always well turned out, has a comfortable and inviting home and is a good cook. She’s not completely unhappy about being unmarried as she enjoys being courted and spoiled by men. She and Jane seem like a mismatched pair of friends, but something in each of them complements the other and they find each others’ lives fascinating.

The question of women’s roles are the foundation of this novel. I love how Pym gives the vicar’s wife absolutely no domestic talents yet the aging single woman is a wonderful homemaker and really isn’t all that interested in entering into a conventional union. It is all cloaked in Pym’s lovely, light humor and great characterizations.

The more I read Pym, the more I am impressed. Achieving such a buoyant style with complex undertones is much harder than it looks. I really admire her writing and I look forward to reading many more (if not all) of her novels.

Excellent Women is Barbara Pym’s subtly witty and charming domestic novel centered around the wonderful and wise Mildred Lathbury. Mildred is an unmarried, thirty-something woman who leads a fairly predictable life in 1950’s London. She works part-time for an impoverished gentlewomen’s organization and spends the rest of her time serving at church and associating with her acquaintances from church, including Father Malory and his sister Winifred. When her dramatic new neighbors Rocky and Helena Napier befriend her she becomes their sounding board and adviser as their marriage starts to wilt. Mildred is attracted to the handsome and charismatic Rocky yet doesn’t really understand Helena, who is an anthropologist and has few domestic skills. Mildred has the single person’s natural curiosity about how marriage works and the Napiers are Mildred’s opportunity to observe the reality of a complicated marriage while trying to help them stay together.

Mildred also becomes entangled in the affairs of the Vicar and his new lodger Mrs. Gray and Everard Bone, a colleague of Helena’s. She seems to inadvertently take on the role of counselor to all the distressed people who surround her. Her ingrained good sense, lack of malice and true desire to assist people generate trust among her acquaintances. She does not openly seek this role or consequently enjoy it or feel comfortable in it, but she is one of those excellent women whom everyone relies on because she never lets them down and never expects much in return.

The great thing about Mildred is that she is so self-effacing and finds humor in her situation. She’s not perfect and she doesn’t always give the best advice, but she wants to be a good person and tries to quell her irritation and selfish tendencies. She’s also very aware of others’ imperfections and doesn’t judge them for their defects (except for maybe Helena’s inability to cook). I really absolutely love Mildred and now see her as an example and a role model (which I’m sure she would be baffled by) and am smitten with the little comforts she takes in life – her tea, her knitting, her small collection of cookbooks by the bedside.

Excellent Women is an excellent book! I am so glad that I finally read it and now I am committed to reading all of Pym’s novels. I love that Pym writes about spinsters who I can identify with. As an old-fashioned girl I’ve never felt like I’ve really recognized myself in any contemporary literary women, but I think there just might be a tiny piece of Mildred Lathbury in me and I’m happy about that.

What do other bloggers think?

Book Snob

Books & Chocolate

The Captive Reader

Ciao Domenica

Have you read any Rosamond Lehmann novels? Last year I read Invitation to the Waltz and really enjoyed it. So, I am thrilled that Florence from Miss Darcy’s Library is going to host a Rosamond Lehmann reading week sometime in the summer. I would love a chance to read more of her novels. Watch Florence’s blog for more information coming soon!