Stay updated with breaking news from Jock liddell. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Last modified on Thu 8 Apr 2021 05.13 EDT In 1971 the author Barbara Pym was at her day job at the International African Institute when she noticed âMr Câ laboriously attacking his lunchtime sandwich with a knife and fork. Pym made a mental note of the detail before asking herself ruefully, âOh why canât I write about things like that any more â why is this kind of thing no longer acceptable?â Ten years earlier, Jonathan Cape had dumped her after her sixth book on the grounds that her brand of anthropological observation of English social manners was old lady-ish, dull and didnât sell. As an extra humiliation, no other publishing house had been interested in picking up Miss Pym: books built on âthe daily round of trivial thingsâ could hardly compete with Frederick Forsythâs ....