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Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym
Quartet in Autumn
by: (author)
4.25 20
One did not drink sherry before the evening, just as one did not read a novel in the morning. In 1970s London, Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work in the same office and suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly and with delightful humour, Pym conducts us through their day-to-day... show more
One did not drink sherry before the evening, just as one did not read a novel in the morning.

In 1970s London, Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work in the same office and suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly and with delightful humour, Pym conducts us through their day-to-day existence: their preoccupations, their irritations, their judgements, and - perhaps most keenly felt - their worries about having somehow missed out on life as post-war Britain shifted around them.

Deliciously, blackly funny and full of obstinate optimism, Quartet in Autumn shows Barbara Pym's sensitive artistry at its most sparkling. A classic from one of Britain's most loved and highly acclaimed novelists, its world is both extraordinary and familiar, revealing the eccentricities of everyday life.

'An exquisite, even magnificent work of art' Observer

'No novelist brings more telling observation or more gentle pleasure' Jilly Cooper
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9781447289616 (1447289617)
Publisher: Picador
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Mike Finn
Mike Finn rated it
3.5 "Quartet in Autum" by Barbara Pym
Dispassionate to the point of discomfort, "Quartet In Autumn" is filled with strong insights unburdened by empathy. "Quartet in Autumn" follows the changing lives of four people who have worked in the same office for some years and who are now approaching retirement. The quartet is made up of t...
Themis-Athena's Garden of Books
Themis-Athena's Garden of Books rated it
3.5 Sonata in a Minor Key
Wow. What a depressing read -- particularly so, the first half of the book (or thereabouts). We're meeting four main characters who thoroughly seem to be passengers, not drivers of their own lives, in a trajectory from nowhere to nowhere (and not necessarily a different part of nowhere, either) --...
Locus Amoenus: All By My Shelf
Locus Amoenus: All By My Shelf rated it
5.0 Final Thoughts: Quartet in Autumn
I think that if this had been the first Pym book I'd read, I would have had a very different perception of her style and thought process. Not better or worse, just very different. In a sense, this does feel like a successor to Excellent Women. In another time, Letty and Marcia might have been two ...
Abandoned by user
Abandoned by user rated it
4.0 The perils of aging
I don't think that I can talk about this book without revealing a major plot point, so if you are planning on reading, skip this review! This book had a very different tone from our first Pymalong, Excellent Women. Where Excellent Women was rueful, A Quartet in Autumn was somber. I still liked it,...
Sushicat
Sushicat rated it
4.0 Great writing!
Barbara Pym gives us glimpses into the lives of four people - two men and two women, working together in an office, all approaching retirement, each living a solitary life. By constantly shifting points of view, she gives us insights into their own thoughts and feelings as well as those of the peopl...
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