Costa del Pym

Nicholas Spice

Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
Macmillan, 216 pp, £8.95, June 1985, ISBN 0 333 39129 2
Foreign Land by Jonathan Raban
Harvill, 352 pp, £9.50, June 1985, ISBN 0 00 222918 8
Black Marina by Emma Tennant
Faber, 157 pp, £8.95, June 1985, ISBN 0 571 13467 X

In a letter to Robert Liddell dated 12 January 1940, Barbara Pym speaks well of her progress on a new novel, Crampton Hodnet, which she finished later that year, but which has only now surfaced for publication: ‘It is about North Oxford and has some bits as good as anything I ever did. Mr Latimer’s proposal to Miss Morrow, old Mrs Killigrew, Dr Fremantle, Master of Randolph College, Mr Cleveland’s elopement and its unfortunate end ... I’m sure all these might be a comfort to somebody.’ As well, it seems to me, call The Rite of Spring restful or Guernica entertaining as expect Crampton Hodnet to administer comfort.

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Vol. 7 No. 12 · 4 July 1985 » Nicholas Spice » Costa del Pym (print version)
pages 10-11 | 4012 words