Some Tame Gazelle; Excellent Women; Jane and Prudence

I've saved the three novels in this Barbara Pym omnibus to talk about together, because in some ways they are very similar. Some Tame Gazelle, Excellent Women and Jane and Prudence were all published in the early 1950s, all centring on the lives of English middle class women who are alike in background, if not temperament: they are all highly educated, conversant with poetry and literature, intelligent and observant. However, most of them don't really work (if they're married), or if they do, their jobs are menial and unfulfilling (Prudence works in a vague capacity for a professor, who apparently needs a staff of SIX to function; Mildred volunteers in a charity for distressed gentlewomen). In fact, almost all Pym's characters could be described as distressed gentlewomen in one way or another. They might be disappointed in love, or relatively calmly nursing a hopeless passion for some unattainable man; they might be busy with the local church (the church looms hugely in all their lives), or berate themselves for being useless at such practical duties, like Jane, a vicar's wife. Their lives unfold at a gentle pace. A great event might be going to an anthropology lecture, or a mild misunderstanding at a parish meeting.

This is the milieu of Miss Marple and St Mary Mead, but without the intrusion of violent crime, and most of these women seem destined for a Miss Marple-ish fate -- overlooked, underappreciated, seen as irrelevant, their talents wasted, even their capacity for love under-utilised. It all sounds very depressing and dull -- and yet Barbara Pym's novels are anything but. This omnibus is nearly 700 pages long and whenever I put it down, I couldn't wait to get back to it.

Somehow these women's lives are so absorbing, so slyly funny and subtly poignant, I quickly became addicted. I also enjoyed the cameos or passing references to characters from different books, and I see that Miss Doggett and Jessie Morrow from Jane and Prudence also star in Crampton Hodnet, which is still on my TBR pile. There is also penetrating social commentary here, disguised as flippant dialogue or inner musings. I am so thrilled to have discovered a new author, and one with a full backlist to explore. Thank you, Susan Green, for the recommendation.