Paula Byrne's biography of the twentieth century novelist celebrates her wit and her talent for chronicling matters of the human heart. Today, Barbara Pym makes her unique mark on the literary landscape of 1950s Britain. Hattie Morahan is the reader.

Philip Larkin regarded her as the era's very own Jane Austen and yet today Barbara Pym is little known. She lived through a period of social and political upheaval, and her novels charted the impact of these changes on women in the public and the domestic realm. By the early 60s she had published six novels, and though she struggled for recognition from 1963 onwards, she continued to write and went on to make a triumphant comeback.

Her diaries are prefaced 'The Adventures of Miss Pym' emulating Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', and in turn Paula Byrne has written her shrewdly observed biography of this courageous and funny novelist in the style of a picaresque adventure.

Paula Byrne is the bestselling and acclaimed biographer and novelist. Her non-fiction includes 'The Real Jane Austen', 'The Genius of Jane Austen' and 'Mad World' the story of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead.

Photo credit: The Barbara Pym Society

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard. Show less