Civil To Strangers

<p><b>INTRODUCED BY HAZEL HOLT</b><br><br><b>''I''m a huge fan of Barbara Pym'' Richard Osman</b><br><br><b>''I''d sooner read a new Barbara Pym than a new Jane Austen'' Philip Larkin</b><br><br>When Barbara Pym died in 1980, she left a considerable amount of unpublished material. This volume contains an early novel, <i>Civil to Strangers</i>, three novellas and an autobiographical essay, ''Finding a Voice'', Pym''s only written comment on her writing career.<br><br>In <i>Civil to Strangers</i>, the lives of a young couple, Cassandra Marsh-Gibbon and her self-absorbed writer husband Adam, are thrown into upheaval when a mysterious Hungarian arrives in their village.<br><br><b>''A sublime social comedy . . . It exists inside the Pym Eden of safety, silliness and a kind of subdued hilarity. Look out for one of her best curates - the starchy, spinster-dodging Mr Paladin - and a typically deliciously insensitive vicar'' KATE SAUNDERS, THE TIMES<br><br>''Brilliant, hilarious, poignant and s