Review: Excellent Women
Gaby Meares
Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women surprised me. I picked it up because someone I respect said how much they loved Pym’s novels. I must say the blurb did not sound encouraging: a story about a mild-mannered spinster set in 1950s London.
However, I quickly found myself immersed in Mildred Lathbury’s life and the people who inhabit her world. This is a world where she attends daily church services in a building still half in rubble from the bombings; where eggs are rarely fresh, usually powdered; and tea is seen as the answer to all that life can throw your way. The church features quite heavily, which I imagine it did in the lives of many in the early 1950s, and is seen as a constant in most people’s lives.
Mildred is wonderful company, her musings always thoughtful and honesty: “I don’t know whether spinsters are really more inquisitive than married women, though I believe they are thought to be because of the emptiness of their lives…”. She is often scolding herself for being too critical or unkind: “I decided that I did not like Mrs Napier very much, and then began to reproach myself for lack of Christian charity. But must we always like everybody?”
Throughout the novel, there is an expectation that Mildred will do all manner of things for people, because she is a spinster, so obviously has nothing better to do! This is one aspect of the novel that still rings true today, as anyone who is either single, or childless, will no doubt agree with.
It could be easy to see Mildred’s life as sad and lonely, however I didn’t see it that way at all. She has many interests and is active within her community; she has a lot true friends, but she also likes her own company. She is well respected, and known to be a person that can be relied on. I was very sorry when I came to the end of this book - I wanted to keep company with Mildred for more than 231 pages.
Perhaps our current world would be a better place if we still honoured and respected excellent women?