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Crampton Hodnet

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Crampton Hodnet

By: Barbara Pym, Louis de Bernieres - introduction
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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About this listen

Introduced by Louis de Bernieres.

Formidable Miss Doggett fills her life by giving tea parties for young academics and acting as watchdog for the morals of North Oxford. Anthea, her great-niece, is in love with a dashing undergraduate with political ambitions. Of this, Miss Doggett thoroughly approves. However, Anthea's father, an Oxford don, is carrying on in the most unseemly fashion with a student—they have been spotted together at the British museum! But the only liaison Miss Doggett isn't aware of is taking place under her very own roof: the lodger has proposed to her paid companion Miss Morrow. She wouldn't approve of that at all.

©1985 Barbara Pym (P)1985 Hachette Audio UK Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction

Critic reviews

"I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym." (Richard Osman)

"Brilliant, hilarious and so very, very English." (Daily Mail)

"I'd sooner read a new Barbara Pym than a new Jane Austen." (Philip Larkin)
All stars
Most relevant
Funny and poignant.

Well written and beautifully narrated.

Barbara Pym never disappoints and always entertains.

Marvellous

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This is such a lovely novel which is so evocative of the period in which it is set. I love Barbara Pym books and am looking forward to the next read.

Charming

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A small gem of a book comes to charming life in this beautifully read audio version of an early Pym novel.

Set in the prim and proper suburbs of north Oxford in the late 1930s, Pym’s gentle humour emerges from the foibles and self deceit of her characters. We are shown their various ways of dealing with the tableau of social acceptance that they must live within.

Both insightful and very funny it brilliantly outshines its sepia setting to stand the test of time with ease.

A small gem of gentle amusement

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I’ve never read Barbara Pyle before and chose this on a recommendation. She created these characters who lead a quite boring and bland life but somehow makes them so interesting in their own funny ways. Nothing much happens, just a few sparks of interest for the characters which don’t amount to much in the end, but an overall sense of satisfaction and contentment! I know that review is a bit odd - you’ll have to listen to it to find out :)
The narration is lovely too. I really enjoyed listening on my dog walks!

Thoroughly cosy reading/listening

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