Quartet in Autumn

Book excerpt: SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1977 MAN BOOKER PRIZE "A spare masterpiece of loneliness in retirement" Telegraph In 1970s London, Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work in the same office and suffer the same problem - loneliness. With delightful humour, Pym takes us through their day-to-day existence: their preoccupations, their irritations, their judgements; and, perhaps most keenly felt, their worries about having somehow missed out on life as post-war Britain shifted around them. Deliciously, blackly funny and full of obstinate optimism, Quartet in Autumn shows Barbara Pym's sensitive artistry at its most sparkling. A classic from one of Britain's most loved and highly acclaimed novelists, its world is both extraordinary and familiar, revealing the eccentricities of everyday life. PRAISE FOR BARBARA PYM "Quartet in Autumn is immeasurably her finest work of fiction" Evening Standard "An alert miniaturist ... her novels have a distinctive flavour, as instantly recognisable as lapsang tea" Daily Telegraph