Excellent Women

Love was rather a terrible thing, I decided next morning, remembering the undercurrents of the evening before. Not perhaps my cup of tea. It would be best not to see too much of the Napiers and their disturbing kind of life, but to meet only people like Julian and Winifred Malory and Dora Caldicote, from whom I had a letter that morning. She hinted vaguely at ‘unpleasantness’ at school, perhaps the affair William had told me about, and asked if she might come and stay with me for a part of her Easter holiday. So I busied myself getting the little spare-room ready, arranging daffodils in a bowl on the mantle piece, and putting out the rather useless little embroidered guest towels. The room looked pretty and comfortable, like an illustration in one of the women’s magazines. I knew it would not look like that for long after Dora’s arrival and was a little sad when I went to talk to her over her unpacking and saw the familiar bulging canvas bag and her hair-net lying on the mantlepiece.

‘Why, Mildred” she exclaimed, ‘What have done to yourself? You look different.”

No compliments of course; Dora was too old and honest a friend to ever flatter me, but she had the power of making me feel rather foolish, especially as I had not realized that she might find any difference in my appearance since the last time we met. I suppose I had taken to using a little more make-up, my hair was more carefully arranged, my clothes a little less drab. I was hardly honest enough to admit even to myself that meeting the Napiers had made this difference and I certainly did not admit it to Dora. (pg. 100)

Excellent Women is Barbara Pym’s second published novel coming out in 1950. The title refers to those women who keep things moving along from planning the church jumble sales to providing the needed cup of tea (or Brandy) in times of crisis – those excellent women who often go unnoticed and unsung. Mildred is a spinster, the daughter of a late clergyman and his wife, who lives in a small flat in a somewhat unsuitable part of London. It is the 1950’s and there are still shortages due to the war and a number of unmarried or widowed women. In fact Mildred works part-time for a charitable organization that helps gentlewomen down on their luck. Mildred is also quite active in her Anglo-Catholic church and her two closest friends are Father Malory and his sister.

As Mildred is puttering along in her somewhat dull life, the flat below hers becomes occupied by the Napiers. Helena is an anthropologist and her handsome and charming husband Rocky is in navy having recently spent his time in Italy arranging the social life of an Admiral. Mildred is a witty, perceptive, and highly observant woman in her early thirties and her contact with the Napiers gives her the opportunity to branch out and explore new realms from attending a lecture at the local anthropological society to changing the way she presents herself to the world.

The writing is light and witty – this is a comedy of the old school – subtle and slightly ironic. There is a reminiscence to or a resemblance with Jane Austin (“IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”) with Pym writing:

I suppose an unmarried woman just over thirty, who lives alone and has no apparent times, must expect to find herself involved or interested in other people’s business, and if she is also a clergyman’s daughter then one might really say there is no hope for her.” (pg. 5)

Mildred resents this perception while at the same time living up to it as curiosity seems to be a natural human inclination. She also finds herself unwillingly accepting a greater role in events at the insistence of those around her who see Mildred as an easy conduit to managing difficult and unwanted tasks. Mildred also uses her curiosity to step outside of her assumed role and nature often behaving quite differently than expected much to the consternation of some of the characters.

All of this elevates Excellent Women beyond a simple comedy of post-war manners and relationships. The novel becomes, much like Austen’s work, an examination of the growth of an individual – growth where flaws are accepted and worked with and the best parts of someone’s nature are highlighted. All together Excellent Women was an excellent read.

Advertisement