Tue, 1 November 2011
In 1950s Kensington, the gossip in the anglo-Catholic parish of St Luke's is hotting up. Father Thames needs a new housekeeper, and he gets a man. New priest Father Ransome needs somewhere to live, but when his hostess dies he has to move out rapidly in case he compromises her middle-aged daughter. Wilmet, indolent and under-occupied, falls in love with the brother of her best friend, and totally fails to notice that both her husband and her mother-in-law are trying to have affairs. Bitchy Mr Bason may be a wonderful cook, but he takes a Faberge egg shopping. Barbara Pym's A Glass of Blessings is all about love among the cassocks. For those who like their ecclesiastical intrigue with incense.
Direct download: Barbara_Pym_and_A_Glass_of_Blessings.mp3
Category:always amusing -- posted at: 8:39 PM
Comments[3]
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I am very interested in the sixteen years of rejection. What were the years? How was she rediscovered? Once I read her first book, I then read each one "like a buzz saw." (this was several decades ago.) I aam now re-reading her, joined the Barbara Pym society, found the Facebook page and through it this link. Do you have a reference to recommend?
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Pym had a loyal readership for her gentle, humorous novels about "church ladies." Then she fell out of favor with the publishers (she wasn't hip) and went through 16 years of rejection. The story of how she was rediscovered is quite interesting (as are her journals). Her masterpiece, in my opinion, is Quartet in Autumn, which is darker than the rest of her work. If it weren't for the intervention of a few people (Philip Larkin being one) the world would be denied that book. Makes you wonder.
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