Barbara Pym: Excellent Women and Quartet In Autumn

“A list of furniture is not a good beginning to a letter, though I dare say a clever person with a fantastic turn of mind could transform even a laundry list into a poem.”

Mildred Lathbury, the “excellent woman” at the heart of Barbara Pym’s 1952 comedy of manners, is full of such opinions and wry observations. Over endless cups of tea and in the still battered landscape of a post-WWII London, Mildred navigates life as a single, 30-something woman in a society that is not always kind to her kind. Pym is such a perceptive writer, creating characters that speak to larger themes of loneliness, relationships, and class, always with a deep humanity. And she’s intellectually confident, a quality with which she imbues Mildred.

Excellent Women is often suggested as the Pym book to start with. Philip Larkin loved the book too, and was an ardent supporter of Pym’s, intent on convincing the “literary establishment” stories like the ones she wrote, in short, women’s stories, mattered. Reading her today, Mildred’s presence is so comforting, her wit so cunning, her observations so hilarious, her world charming, indeed, full. She’s the friend you wish you had on your group text. Excellent Women can be enjoyed purely on a narrative level, but also rewards a closer reading. If you love Hot Priest, Midsomer Murders, drinking tea, questioning life’s purpose, or have opinions about Hawaiian Fire lipstick, then you’ll love Pym.

Texts
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym

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