A black and white photograph of author Barbara Pym sitting on a rock in the hills above a field.

On this day in 1980 Barbara Pym passed away.

Her books all shared the same universe with countless references and cameos throughout. Her 'A Glass of Blessings' caused uproar for having homosexual characters portrayed in a sympathetic light.

#OnThisDay #Anniversary #BarbaraPym

"Perhaps long spaghetti is the kind of thing that ought to be eaten quite alone with nobody to watch one’s struggles."

✒ English novelist #BarbaraPym passed away #OTD 11 January 1980. #Literature

On Barbara Pym, Author… and Stalker? Barbara Pym, a novelist sometimes described as the twentieth-century Jane Austen, was a stalker. Her diaries describe her methods of “finding out” her objects of interest in vivid detail: looking t…

« From early on, Pym’s romances in real life seemed to follow a pattern : dizzying infatuation then a mystifying fizzle—accompanied by stalking campaigns that combined giddy self-indulgence and exquisite self-torture. » lithub.com/on-barbara-p...

#barbarapym

‘What a pity we can't make a cup of Ovaltine, was her last conscious thought. Life's problems are often eased by hot milky drinks.’

-Barbara Pym

#barbarapym #booksky

@heavenalibooks.bsky.social @kaggsy59.bsky.social @pear-jelly.bsky.social @maxcairnduff.bsky.social Just in case you haven’t seen this programme…it’s all kinds of wonderful! #BarbaraPym #BookSky 💙📚

Miss Pym's Day Out: Bookmark Dramatised documentary about the writer Barbara Pym, depicting one day in her life - 23 November 1977 - when she travelled to London to attend the Booker Prize ceremony.

I usually think autoplay is a damned nuisance but today it brought me this little gem that I would otherwise almost certainly not have seen.

8½/10 ⭐️

Available until November 13.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

#TV #drama #biography #BarbaraPym #PatriciaRoutledge

Jane And Prudence A review of Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym – 250913 On the face of it, Jane Cleveland and Prudence Bates, the principal characters of this, the third novel by Barbara Pym, originally published in…

My thoughts on Jane and Prudence by #BarbaraPym #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/j...

“Yes, life has to go on, and I suppose a cup of tea does make it seem to be doing that more than anything.”

-Barbara Pym

#barbarapym #booksky

Famously the man novelist #BarbaraPym wanted to marry

The Art of Caustic Cosiness: On Barbara Pym’s The Sweet Dove Died In December 1967, eleven years before The Sweet Dove Died was published, Barbara Pym wrote to Philip Larkin, enclosing her first draft. (The two maintained a correspondence for fourteen years, befo…

« The Sweet Dove Died is a novel that sets clashing unexpected currents in motion to stimulate and unnerve. » lithub.com/the-art-of-c...

#barbarapym

A photo of three vintage 1980s paperback books fanned on a floral background. The books are by author Barbara Pym, and are titled “A Glass of Blessings,” “Quartet in Autumn”, and “A Few Green Leaves.”

A photo of back covers of three vintage 1980s paperback books fanned on a floral background. The books are by author Barbara Pym, and are titled “A Glass of Blessings,” “Quartet in Autumn”, and “A Few Green Leaves,” and the original Shakespeare & Co $6.95 price tags are all visible.

And if you love vintage #books, check out these three US paperback editions of three more of Pym’s latter novels from the 1980s, in excellent condition, complete with original Shakespeare & Co. price tags! 😻 Available here:
tinyurl.com/2s3sx2ma

#vintagebooks #barbarapym #booksky

The Bachelors by Muriel Spark, c1960. 3 men on the cover wear fedoras and a bowler hat, suits and ties.

Muriel Spark and Barbara Pym wrote novels set in mid-century London. When I tried to imagine their characters living in the same universe, I decided Pym's characters in The Sweet Dove Died were cynical enough to be in Spark's The Bachelors. #MurielSpark #BarbaraPym #Books

Photograph of Barbara Pym holding a cat, with the words "Legacy Library."

Yesterday was the birthday of mid-20th-century English novelist Barbara Pym, whose work was championed by fellow writers such as the poet Philip Larkin, who compared her favorably to Jane Austen. 💙📚 #BarbaraPym

Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym First published in 1977, at the height of Pym’s well-documented renaissance, Quartet in Autumn is a quietly poignant novel of loneliness, ageing and the passing of time – how sometimes we can feel …

From the archive for Barbara Pym, #BornOnThisDay in 1913, my thoughts on QUARTET IN AUTUMN.

A poignant, bittersweet portrayal of loneliness, ageing and the passing of time. Probably Pym’s masterpiece in a very strong field. #BOTD #BookSky 💙📚 #BarbaraPym

jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022/01/11/a...

“My thoughts went round and round and it occurred to me that if I ever wrote a novel it would be of the 'stream of consciousness' type and deal with an hour in the life of a woman at the sink.” (Excellent Women)

✒️ #BarbaraPym, English author, was #BOTD 2 June 1913. #Literature

Author Barbara Pym may have worked for MI5, research suggests New work says novelist, who was a censor during second world war, may been employed to look for coded messages

« I thought it very odd that an Oxford graduate who speaks German and is already writing should really only be looking at letters between Irish families. » www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

#barbarapym

Author Barbara Pym may have worked for MI5, research suggests New work says novelist, who was a censor during second world war, may been employed to look for coded messages

Fascinating piece for fellow Huytonians! #huytoncollege #barbarapym www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Elsewhere, there is a lot going on in this aside in a letter to William #Coldstream: ‘(she happens to be the vicar’s wife but has four children & is obviously very intelligent & has plenty of money)’

'Happens' !?

Shades of #BarbaraPym, I think.

#SomeTameGazelle
#BarbaraPym

When we grow older we lack the fine courage of youth, and even an ordinary task like making a pullover for somebody we love or used to love seems too dangerous to be undertaken.
#booksky
#TheWriteWomen

The latest news and gossip from the world of TV This week: new adaptations of Barbara Pym’s novels are on the way, Amazon handed a hit to its biggest rival, Steve Coogan comes to Netflix, and more TV news

A good friend, who knows me very well, has just sent me a link to this article about an adaptation of EXCELLENT WOMEN.

Great to see this level of interest in Barbara Pym, but I shall be very cross if they muck it up! #BookSky #BarbaraPym 💙📚

www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-r...

Dear #BarbaraPym, wherever you are, pray for all of us, sad spinsters aka #ExcellentWomen 🤣🙌

#BookSky #8M #MustRead #Feminism #Reads #BooksWorthReading #FemaleWriters #YoLeoAutoras

Heredera del delicioso humor, fina ironía e impecable bisturí psicólogico y social de Jane Austen o Edith Warthon, #BarbaraPym, entre muchas tazas de té, disecciona demoledoramente la posición de la #mujer single en la British society post WW2 en la brutal #MujeresExcelentes ☕️

#BookSky #8M2025 #8M

Rome, Death or Umbrage Humorous novelist Barbara Pym, a High Anglican Christian, once remarked that most people left her church for one of three reasons: Rome, death or umbrage. Her comment’s also true for the reas…

As I no longer have a child of 5/6 to dress up as a book character, I had completely missed that it was #WorldBookDay. But here are couple of #HR and literature themed posts from my website

1. #BarbaraPym and staff retention
ariadne-associates.co.uk/2014/09/15/r...

Photo of book, Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym

Feeling post-viral and a bit fed up (piss off, February) so having a weekend treat. #BarbaraPym #ComfortRead

#BarbaraPym

Today marks my very first post for Bluesky. Hello kindred spirits - lovers of all things bookish, TV, movies. How about starting with a question right out of the gate. I am reading "Excellent Women" by Barbara Pym. I love her sense of humor. Any Barbara Pym fans out there?
#amreading #BarbaraPym

Barbara Pym offers comfort, delight, and, in this case, advice. If you want to read your way into joy, you can't go wrong with this novel or #sometamegazelle or #excellentwomen. With a hot milky drink of course! #booksky #books #readerswhowrite #writerswhoread #barbarapym

Luen nyt:
Barbara Pym Quartet in Autumn, joka on julkaistu 1977. En ole lukenut Pymiä ennen. Oletko sinä? Ilmeisesti tämä on hyvin erilainen hänen muihin kirjoihin verrattuna.
#booksky #kirjataivas #BarbaraPym

How pleasing that Barbara Pym’s diaries smell of a church vestry—so appropriate and lovely. There’s something so comforting about the smell of old books, isn’t there? 📚✨ #BarbaraPym #BookLovers #Nostalgia”

"Perhaps long spaghetti is the kind of thing that ought to be eaten quite alone with nobody to watch one’s struggles."

✒ English novelist #BarbaraPym passed away #OTD 11 January 1980. #Literature