"...everyone knew that people in villages were different."
Barbara Pym's last novel, A Few Green Leaves, is about life in a West Oxfordshire village. Emma Howick, a single anthropologist in her thirties, has come to this village to do some research for her next paper and observe the customs and characters living in this village. And there are plenty of characters: Tom, the widowed rector, "who might sill marry again"; Daphne, the rector's single sister, who dreams of living in a white-washed Greek cottage somewhere on the Aegean; old Dr. G. who prefers his patients to be young, and young Dr. Shrubsole, who has an interest in geriatrics; Graham Pettifer, Emma's ex-lover, who unexpectedly turns up at the village to work on his next book; and Miss Lee, Miss Grundy, and Miss Lickerish, the bevy of spinsters that seem to be a given in any Barbara Pym novel. As Emma observed, "There was obviously material for note here." And the possibility of romance as well.
While there's no mystery or psychological suspense in a Pym novel, there is humor and characters to which you quickly become attached. A Few Green Leaves follows life in a small English village over a summer. It's charming, well-written, and thoroughly enjoyable. Pym does it again! I've read four other Pym novels: Excellent Women, Some Tame Gazelle, Jane and Prudence, and Quartet in Autumn. They are all worth checking out.
Happy Reading!
I really need to read Barbara Pym. I don't know why I've resisted when I keep seeing descriptions of novels that interest me.
ReplyDeleteHer novels aren't very long if that helps at all. And they're an easy read. I've really enjoyed the four novels of hers that I've read.
DeleteI do like Barbara Pym, but somehow I always forget they are written in the fifties, I always expect them to be older somehow! :-)
ReplyDeleteThese ones you review here I do not know yet, but there are on my list now!
Kind regards,
I always think of Pym's novels as being older, too. That's so funny. I hope you get a chance to read this one. It's fun.
DeleteI've loved the Pyms I've read, but it's been a while, This sounds lovely, so maybe it should be next up.
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong with any of her novels. I just wish my library carried more of them...but then, I'm not sure I mind buying them for my own library because then I can reread them any time I want. :)
DeleteI have this book in my TBR pile! I love Barbara Pym's writing. I've read Some Tame Gazelle and An Unsuitable Attachment and enjoyed them both.
ReplyDeleteHer novels are so easy to read. And this one's not very long. If you do pull it off your TBR pile, let me know what you think of it. :)
DeleteI still haven't read any Barbara Pym. She sounds like she writes some delightful stories though!
ReplyDeleteThey're fun...if a little quiet. They remind me a little of Austen in their humor and focus on village life in England. If you ever get the chance to read one I think you'd like it.
DeleteI like other novels that are set in a village with a cast of characters...you would think I would get around to reading Barbara Pym! I need to either learn to read much faster, or figure out how to clone myself. Too many books...sigh....
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