Quartet in Autumn [B2022]

1992 PB reprint of the 1977 original, in nice clean condition. Shortlisted for the 1977 Booker Prize. This is the story of four people in late middle-age - Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia - whose chief point of contact is that they work in the same office and they suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly, poignantly, satirically and with much humour, Pym conducts us through their small lives and the facade they erect to defend themselves against the outside world. There is nevertheless an obstinate optimism in her characters, allowing them in their different ways to win through to a kind of hope. Barbara Pym's sensitive wit and artistry are at their most sparkling in Quartet in Autumn.

Barbara Pym (1913-1980) was a bestselling and award-winning English novelist. Her first book, Some Tame Gazelle (1950), launched her career as a writer beloved for her social comedies of class and manners.

"An exquisite, even magnificent work of art" -Observer. "Barbara Pym's unpretentious, subtle, accomplished novels are for me the finest examples of high comedy to have appeared in England during the past 75 years ...spectacular" -Sunday Times.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "The book has such a simple plot, yet it carries an incredible amount of depth. It's a short book, but I found myself completely invested in the lives of the four colleagues as Pym quietly and subtly unfolds their stories."; "Quartet in Autumn is my first Pym and I am really happy that I read this book. The book is somber but it has not lost its humor. The way it deals with the loneliness and longing for a human touch, and how the elderlies face conflicting emotions can move any reader."; "Another excellent Barbara Pym."; "Barbara Pym at her perceptive, melancholy, bittersweet best!"