Excellent Womenby Barbara Pym. “Mildred Lathbury is an‘excellent woman’ - 30's, single, capable, involved in the church, living alone in post war London. As such, she is taken for granted on every page. Do you need someone to work a jumble sale? Are you having a fight with your husband and need someone to write a note to him? Did you move out of the house and you need someone to meet and manage the moving company? Do you have a chicken at home and need someone to cook it? The list goes on and on and on. And of course, an excellent woman MUST be in want of a husband. Mildred is assumed to be in love with every man she meets no matter how much she protests (which is quite funny when the clergyman becomes engaged and Mildred is battling condolences from all sides.) There seem to be a lot of comparisons to Austen but I don't really agree. While they both write about the quiet domestication of everyday life, Austen ultimately ends with the realization of true love and marriage. There is no such goal or outcome here. Pym exposes the foibles of the excellent women as well as those who impose on them with humor and sympathy.”
