A review of “Quartet in Autumn” in 100 words by Catherine Stover
What should a moderately successful novelist, who didn’t engage readers during the social revolutions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, do to stage a come back? Explore trends? Update her plots? Become provocative? Barbara Pym declined these options. Instead, she wrote a novel about four office workers who were facing retirement. Her opening pages describe their hair styles. Instead of aiming for drama, she shares their humanity, balancing melancholy with wit and warmth. It rings true. We can understand their frustrations and resilience. Her book was nominated for Britain’s most prestigious literary award. Nearly 50 years later, it feels current.
Work cited:
Pym, Barbara. Quartet in Autumn. Plume, 1992, p. 3.