Book description
Over the years, as Barbara Pym replaced Nancy Mitford, Georgette Heyer,
even Jane Austen, as my most loved author, I devoured all her books, but
JANE AND PRUDENCE remains my favourite. Even an umpteenth reading this
weekend was punctuated by gasps of joy, laughter and wonder that this
lovely book should remain so fresh, funny and true to life' Jilly Cooper
'The setting of this very funny novel, one of Barbara Pym's earliest, is
an English village where Jane's husband is the newly appointed vicar,
and where Prudence will pay Jane a visit and find herself courted by a
fatuous young widower. Prudence, at twenty-nine, has achieved nothing in
life but a dull research job in London and a string of dud affairs;
Jane, now in her forties, was Prudence's tutor at Oxford. Jane
cheerfully concedes that she is an incompetent housewife, but she hopes
that the move to a rural parish may transform her into a Trollopean
vicar's wife, as well as a crafty matchmaker. There are many comic
complications here, as Jane learns that matchmaking has as many pitfalls
as does housewifery' The New Yorker Barbara Pym (1913-80) was born in
Shropshire and educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. When in 1977 the
TLS asked critics to name the most underrated authors of the past 75
years, only one was named twice (by Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil):
Barbara Pym. Her novels are characterised by what Anne Tyler has called
'the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life'.
