Quartet in Autumn

‘Spectacular’ – The Sunday Times

‘Quartet in Autumn is immeasurably her finest work of fiction’ – Evening Standard

‘Barbara Pym has a sharp eye for the exact nuances of social behaviour’ – The Times

Deliciously, blackly funny and full of obstinate optimism, Quartet in Autumn is a classic, showing Barbara Pym’s sensitive artistry at its most sparkling. Its world is both extraordinary and familiar, revealing the eccentricities of everyday life.

In 1970s London, Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work in the same office and suffer the same problem – loneliness.

Lovingly and with delightful humour, Barbara Pym conducts 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.

Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.