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Sunday, September 26, 2021

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym - 1953


 Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym - 1953



“Once outside the magic circle the writers became their lonely selves, pondering on poems, observing their fellow men ruthlessly, putting people they knew into novels; no wonder they were without friends.” 

 Barbara Pym, Jane and Prudence



Works by Barbara Pym I have so far read 


Some Tame Gazelle - 1950


Excellent Women - 1952


Earlier in the month I acquired four more of her novels, in Kindle Editions, for $1.95 each.  Besides Jane and Prudence, t A Glass of Blessings, Less Than Angels and No Fond Return of Love.



Barbara Pym 



Born - June 13, 1913 - Oswestry, England



Died - January 11, 1980 - Oxford, England 


Barbara Pym is among the best chroniclers of a now lost, maybe lost when she was writing, world of curates, vicars and women whose lives are bound up the social world of post World War Two England, with rationing, the return of service men and endless meeting for tea. No one has children out of wedlock, of course. Many have small “private incomes”.


 Jane and Prudence centers on The  relationship of Jane, a forty year old vicar’s wife and Prudence, twenty nine and single. Jane was Prudence’s tutor at Oxford and they have stayed good friends.


Jane’s husband Nicholas has just take over as a Vicar in small community.  We see their efforts to get to know the parrisioners.  Of course having teas are a big factor.


Prudence works for an academic foundation of some sort. She is infatuated with the married Director who has never shown any reciprocal interest.  There are two other women employed and one man.  We never learn the precise purpose of the foundation.


Prudence has had a few  romances but Jane thinks she should be married before she becomes a spinster. She attempts to set up a relationship with Prudence and Fabian Driver, a widower with a reputation as a womanizer, having cheated on his late wife.  There is also a rival for Fabian.


This is a very funny novel with marvelous character development.   I was very struck by How Pym used adverbs to characterize something said and define a conversation.



 I greatly enjoyed Jane and Prudence.I will next read her A Glass of Blessings.









2 comments:

  1. I dearly loved this book. I checked my blog, and I wrote about it in the early days. It is here if you want to read it.
    https://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2007/10/book-reportjane-and-prudence.html
    Though it has been a long time, I still remember how happy the book made me.
    You have pinpointed what I love most about Kindle books. One can buy so many for so little money; and the availability of the old books.

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  2. I like to read about the post WWII world as you described it. Whether I would liked to have lived it is doubtful. However, this sounds like a delightful read, just up my street.

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