by Barbara Pym
First published 2013
Wilmet Forsyth has everything a woman of her class should want. She dresses well, lives comfortably, and married Rodney, a handsome army major. Yet she feels desperately bored. Rodney has grown balder and heavier with time. Wilmet believes she has aged more gracefully. She begins spending her days at the local Anglo-Catholic church instead of tending to household duties. The parish offers her something her marriage cannot. Three unmarried priests provide intellectual stimulation and purpose. More intriguingly, she encounters Piers Longridge, a man completely unlike anyone in her predictable social circle. As Wilmet becomes more involved in church activities, she must confront what she truly wants from life. Her comfortable but empty marriage stands in stark contrast to the meaningful connections she discovers among the congregation. Pym explores the quiet desperation of domestic life and the search for authentic purpose.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Anglo-Catholic Church
Period: 20th Century
277 pages · Paperback · Virago