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An Academic Question

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An Academic Question

By: Barbara Pym, Kate Saunders - introduction
Narrated by: Jilly Bond
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INTRODUCED BY KATE SAUNDERS

'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' RICHARD OSMAN

'My favourite writer . . . I pick up her books with joy' JILLY COOPER

'Beneath the gentle surfaces of her novels is a slow-building comedy, salt wit in a saline drip' NEW YORK TIMES

In a provincial university town, Caro Grimstone, a dissatisfied faculty wife, becomes the unwilling accomplice to her husband Alan's ambitions. When she volunteers to read to a blind, esteemed anthropologist in a nursing home, Alan seizes the opportunity to steal his papers - research that could both advance his reputation while refuting the findings of a respected colleague. A delightful comedy of manners with a touch of mystery, An Academic Question is prime Barbara Pym territory.©1986 The Estate Of Barbara Pym Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Fiction Marriage Comedy
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Critic Reviews

Beneath the gentle surfaces of her novels is a slow-building comedy, salt wit in a saline drip
My favourite writer . . . I pick up her books with joy (Jilly Cooper)
She is the rarest of treasures; she reminds us of the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life (ANNE TYLER)
I am a huge fan of Barbara Pym (RICHARD OSMAN)
A splendid humorous writer (John Betjeman)
A modern Jane Austen (Alexander McCall Smith)
There is a thrill of humanity through all her work (Shirley Hazzard)
All stars
Most relevant
The author's novels are ideal for the audio book format. Gentle, charming and often amusing, they provide easy listening and a window on a recent, but now almost forgotten, past. This short novel, which centres on life in a provincial English town and its small university, is not one of Pym's best, but it remains a most pleasant listening experience.

Short, slight, but charming

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