Jane and Prudence

Title: Jane and Prudence

Author: Barbara Pym

Publication date: 1953

Book's setting: The early 1950's

Random facts: Barbara Pym was close friends with Julian Amery, a member of Parliament, which may have been inspiration for the character in Jane and Prudence with the same job.

Plot summary: Jane and Prudence went to Oxford together years ago and have remained good friends ever since. The only difference is that Jane is 40 and married with a grown-up daughter while Prudence is 29 and single. Prudence seems to be doomed to a string of faulty love affairs and Jane just wants to see her settled. The problem is that Prudence is determined to be in love with her married boss. Jane and her husband Nicholas move to a new country village to take over a dying parish and Prudence comes to stay... reluctantly. But in this little town she meets Fabian, the mysterious and romantic widow who can't quite seem to get over his dead wife. Can Prudence woo him? And does she even want to?

Favorite aspects: I just love Jane and Nicholas. They're both so well educated and brilliant but they're living like poor country folk, holding together dying parish, dressing badly, and being dull. Yet I don't pity them, I admire them. Instead I pity Prudence, whose existence is so chic and empty and lifeless. I'm a bit of a ~city girl~ at heart who tends to scrunch up my nose at the idea of ~country life~ but Pym portrayed Jane's world as so lovely! I want to go to the Spinning Wheel for a lunch of fried eggs and potatoes! Also Jane and Prudence is chock full of nonstop giggles, so that counts for something.

Least favorite aspects: I didn't like Prudence. All the other characters were likable and interesting, but Prudence was just annoying. Maybe her string of admirers just got exhausting after a while. I think she was a bit too good for her co-worker and as ridiculous as Fabian was, it's better they didn't get too far. Pym usually writes hosts of charming and adorable characters... even highly flawed ones... but Prudence grated on my nerves.

Other works it reminded me of: Other things by Barbara Pym; books by Rosamund Pilcher.

Sadie's merciless break-down: Hey look. I read another Barbara Pym novel! How seemingly predictable at this point. But when you find an author you like, you just want to run with it... until you run out of books. The funnest thing about reading multiple works by the same author is finding the similarities between novels and trying to determine that one thing that makes an author's work distinctive. Last year I whipped through a dozen Diana Wynne Jones books in a month and read everything the library had by Edith Wharton. I think 2011 will be a year of Barbara Pym. I hope you all don't mind because her books shall continue to crop up.
I have nothing else to say mainly because a new episode of Chuck airs in seven minutes and I want to make tea before it starts. Fin.

Recommendation rate: If you enjoy British romance comedy then obviously you should read it.