41: Barbara Pym and Other Excellent Women

A latter-day Austen, an academic, a romantic, a comic, a caustic chronicler of the commonplace . . . The novelist Barbara Pym became beloved and Booker Prize-nominated in the late twentieth century, yet many rejections, years in the literary wilderness and manuscripts stored in linen cupboards preceded her revival.

Paula Byrne, author of The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, and Lucy Scholes, critic, Paris Review columnist and editor at McNally Editions, join the Slightly Foxed team to plumb the depths and scale the peaks of Barbara Pym’s writing, life and loves. From Nazi Germany to the African Institute; from London’s bedsit land to parish halls; from unrequited love affairs with unsuitable men to an epistolary friendship with Philip Larkin; and from rejection by Jonathan Cape to overnight success via the TLS, we trace Pym’s life through her novels, visiting the Bodleian and Boots lending libraries along the way. There’s joy in Some Tame Gazelle, loneliness in Quartet in Autumn, and humour and all human experience in between, with excellent women consistently her theme.

We then turn from Pym to other writers under or above the radar, finding darkness in Elizabeth Taylor, tragicomedy in Margaret Kennedy and real and surreal rackety lives in Barbara Comyns. To round out a cast of excellent women, we discover Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca was foretold in Elizabeth von Arnim’s Vera, and we recommend an eccentric trip with Jane Bowles and her Two Serious Ladies, as well as theatrical tales from a raconteur in Eileen Atkins’s memoir. (Episode duration: 57 minutes; 16 seconds)

Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Jess in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.

Flora Thompson, Lark Rise and Over to Candleford & Candleford Green, Slightly Foxed Edition Nos. 58 and 59 (1:39)Paula Byrne, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym (2:11)Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow is out of print (4:28)Barbara Pym, Quartet in Autumn (6:33)Barbara Pym, The Sweet Dove Died is out of print (8:16)Barbara Pym, Some Tame Gazelle (14:07)Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (19:06)Barbara Pym, A Glass of Blessings (22:14)Barbara Pym, A Few Green Leaves is out of print (32:28)Nicola Beauman, The Other Elizabeth Taylor (36:33)Elizabeth Taylor, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (37:00)Elizabeth Taylor, Angel (38:27)Barbara Comyns, The Vet’s Daughter (41:16)Barbara Comyns, The House of Dolls (42:16)Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (42:45)Barbara Comyns, Our Spoons Came from Woolworths (43:03)Barbara Comyns, A Touch of Mistletoe (43:46)Elizabeth von Arnim, Vera (47:47)Margaret Kennedy, Troy Chimneys, McNally Editions (48:59)Jane Bowles, Two Serious Ladies (50:37)Eileen Atkins, Will She Do? (52:39)Related Slightly Foxed ArticlesNot So Bad, Really, Frances Donnelly on Barbara Pym, Issue 11Hands across the Tea-shop Table, Sue Gee on Elizabeth Taylor, A Game of Hide and Seek and Nicola Beauman, The Other Elizabeth Taylor, Issue 58There for the Duration, Juliet Gardiner on Elizabeth Taylor, At Mrs Lippincote’s, Issue 13Sophia Fairclough and Me, Sophie Breese on the novels of Barbara Comyns, Issue 42Other LinksMcNally Editions is an American imprint devoted to hidden gems (2:47)In the Paris Review Re-Covered column, Lucy Scholes exhumes the out-of-print and forgotten books that shouldn’t beLucy Scholes is the host of the Virago OurShelves podcastThe Barbara Pym SocietyOpening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach

The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

The independent-minded book review magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. Good-humoured, unpretentious and a bit eccentric, it’s more like a well-read friend than a literary magazine.

Come behind the scenes with the staff of Slightly Foxed to learn what makes this unusual literary magazine tick, meet some of its varied friends and contributors, and hear their personal recommendations for favourite and often forgotten books that have helped, haunted, informed or entertained them.

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• No. of episodes: 55
• Latest episode: 2025-04-15
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