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Civil To Strangers

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About this listen

 INTRODUCED BY HAZEL HOLT

'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' Richard Osman

'I'd sooner read a new Barbara Pym than a new Jane Austen' Philip Larkin

When Barbara Pym died in 1980, she left a considerable amount of unpublished material. This volume contains an early novel, Civil to Strangers, three novellas and an autobiographical essay, 'Finding a Voice', Pym's only written comment on her writing career.

In Civil to Strangers, the lives of a young couple, Cassandra Marsh-Gibbon and her self-absorbed writer husband Adam, are thrown into upheaval when a mysterious Hungarian arrives in their village.

'A sublime social comedy . . . It exists inside the Pym Eden of safety, silliness and a kind of subdued hilarity. Look out for one of her best curates - the starchy, spinster-dodging Mr Paladin - and a typically deliciously insensitive vicar' KATE SAUNDERS, THE TIMES

'Brilliant, hilarious, poignant and so very, very English' TIME©1987 The Beneficiaries of Barbara Pym Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Classics Comedy Marriage

Critic reviews

I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym (Richard Osman)
I'd sooner read a new Barbara Pym than a new Jane Austen (Philip Larkin)
A sublime social comedy . . . It exists inside the Pym Eden of safety, silliness and a kind of subdued hilarity. Look out for one of her best curates - the starchy, spinster-dodging Mr Paladin - and a typically deliciously insensitive vicar (KATE SAUNDERS)
Brilliant, hilarious, poignant and so very, very English
Barbara Pym is the rarest of treasures; she reminds us of the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life (ANNE TYLER)
All stars
Most relevant
This beautifully read collection gave an insight into how Barbara Pym worked and it was fun to see characters popping up in lots of different stories and situations.

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