Excellent Women - Barbara Pym

I absolutely adored this novel. First published by Jonathon Cape in 1952, and now deservedly a Virago Modern Classic, Excellent Women is a glorious study of middle-class manners, pin sharp in its portrayal of the stultifying smallness of post Second World War English society. It is also very funny. 

Mildred Lathbury, our narrator, is to be relied upon: 'capable of dealing with most of the great moments of life - birth, marriage, death, the successful jumble sale, the garden fête spoilt by bad weather'. An Excellent Woman then, but a tragic one also, destined it seems to spinsterhood at only thirty years of age. 

Larkin was a huge fan, as is Richard Osman. My edition came with an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith.

I highly recommend it.