The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym

by Paula Byrne

  Lamia, ancient city of, 527

  Landreth, Amy, 401

  Langbaine, Gerard, 115, 173–4, 177

  Larkin, Philip: and Oxford University, 51–2, 473–4, 475, 500–1, 544; and social class, 51–2, 473–4; as devoted fan of Pym, 1, 473; senior librarian at Hull University, 473, 475; epistolary friendships, 474–5; Brunette Coleman alter ego, 474; correspondence with Pym, 475–6, 487–8, 489, 500–1, 510, 517–19, 520–1, 542, 547–8, 549, 550–1, 555–6, 558; on No Fond Return of Love, 475–6; and sense of exclusion/loss, 476; on An Unsuitable Attachment, 477; and Pym’s rejection by Cape, 487–8, 489, 497, 500; fights for Pym’s rehabilitation, 500, 501, 518–19, 521–2, 541–2; supports and encourages Pym, 500, 501, 505, 517, 518–19, 521–2, 542, 550, 561, 562, 564; admiration for Excellent Women, 505, 519, 550; compares Pym to Jane Austen, 505, 521, 540; sarcasm about other writers, 520–1; and the commonplace, 520, 521–2; and The Sweet Dove Died, 531–2, 534, 541, 587–8; and writer’s block, 531; on loss of circulating libraries, 533; on Pym’s ‘plangent quality,’ 537; fellowship at All Souls, 544; and Iris Murdoch, 552; and Pym’s stroke, 559–60; meets Pym face-to-face, 561; and Pym’s ‘retirement’ book, 562, 569; chairs Booker Prize judges (1977), 564, 575, 577, 584; visits to Barn Cottage, 564, 574; and TLS seventy-fifth anniversary edition, 570–1; ‘Something to Love’ (TLS article on Pym), 572–3; celebrates Pym’s rehabilitation, 572, 576; on Tea with Miss Pym, 576–7; and Pym’s papers, 585; and Pym’s stomach cancer, 596; during Pym’s final illness, 598–9; at Pym’s funeral, 601; Jill (novel), 51–2, 475, 500–1; A Girl In Winter (novel), 473; ‘Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album,’ 476; ‘Annus Mirabilis,’ 486; The Whitsun Weddings, 504–5, 520; ‘Faith Healing,’ 504; ‘An Arundel Tomb,’ 505, 589, 594, 603; ‘Toads,’ 517–18; All What Jazz, 543; High Windows, 559; ‘Ambulances,’ 581

  Laski, Marghanita, 423

  Lawrence, D. H., 180, 596; Lady Chatterley’s Lover, 486

  Lawrence, Gertrude, 543

  Laws, Frederick, 434

  Lehmann, John, 312

  Lejeune, Helene, 17

  Lennon, John, 497, 543

  Less Than Angels (novel): and anthropology, 434, 436–40, 441–2; Pym begins work on, 434; plot of, 436–7, 438–42; characterisation in, 437, 438–42; realism of, 437; Florence Amery in, 439; sale of overseas rights, 446–7; friends’ reactions to, 446; published (October 1955), 446; twitching net curtains in, 449; and Philip Larkin, 501; Library Association reprint, 546

  Lewis, C. S., 61

  libraries: commercial circulating libraries, 17, 489, 532–3; public, 533, 565, 571, 579–80

  Library Association reprints, 532, 533, 546

  Liddell, Betty, 181, 288–9, 297–8

  Liddell, Donald, 95, 127, 130–1, 158–9, 191, 269, 288–9, 297–8; WW2 service, 298, 372; death of in Normandy (summer 1944), 372–3, 378, 416–17, 602

  Liddell, Robert ‘Jock’: friendship with Harvey, 62, 71–2, 75, 88–9, 95, 117–18, 143–4; as assistant librarian at Bodleian, 72, 126–7, 128, 136, 166–7, 239, 242; Pym’s fascination with at Oxford, 75, 79, 84, 85–6, 89, 91, 95; and Pym’s attitude to homosexuality, 76; literary career, 95, 118, 129, 130, 166, 168, 172–3, 181, 242, 285, 286, 383–4, 416–17, 420–1, 533; miserable childhood of, 95, 97, 130–1, 168, 170, 172–3, 183; stepmother of, 95, 97, 130–1, 168, 170, 173, 181, 288–9, 297–8; kindness of, 97, 99, 113, 160, 164, 165, 167, 170, 180, 388, 415, 433; correspondence with Pym, 98–100, 126–7, 128–9, 130–1, 136, 161–2, 164–5, 166–7, 168–70, 219–20, 384, 386–8; love/hate attitude towards Harvey, 100, 159, 162, 415–16, 422; Pym darns socks of, 114–15; discovers Pym and Harvey in bed, 116; as ardent admirer of Austen, 118; in Some Tame Gazelle, 127–8, 133, 170; impressed by Some Tame Gazelle, 127–9, 131, 133–4; encourages Pym’s literary vocation, 128–9, 130, 131, 133–4, 135, 150, 180–1, 378, 384, 386–8, 500; and news of Harvey in Finland, 130, 135, 136, 142, 143, 159, 181–2, 188; Pym draws closer to, 130, 135, 136; lives with brother in Oxford, 131, 158–9; and Pym’s nasty riverside incident, 145, 146; stays at Morda Lodge (summer 1935), 149, 150; and Elsie Harvey, 150, 175, 181–2, 188, 210–11; advice and edits for Some Tame Gazelle, 152, 157, 161, 163, 217, 389–90, 413; and tragedy of Mrs Trew, 158–9, 168; plan to leave Oxford, 158, 166, 180; and Compton-Burnett, 162, 182, 183–4, 185, 186, 281, 296–7; rejects job offer from Cairo, 166; outings to Oxfordshire countryside, 174–5; flying visit to Shropshire, 177; on Adam and Cassandra, 179; sister Betty, 181, 288–9, 297–8; letters in Compton-Burnett’s style, 187–8, 197–8, 210–13, 216–17, 386–7; and Gervase and Flora, 191, 202; and Henry’s marriage, 191, 197–8, 210; with the Harveys, 210–11, 214; and Crampton Hodnet, 242, 285; in London (June 1939), 249; in Finland at outbreak of war, 269; and Second World War, 269, 285–6, 288, 289, 296, 372–3; Pym’s wartime correspondence with, 279, 280, 281, 288, 289, 296–8, 369, 372–3; wartime correspondence with Pym, 279, 280, 281, 288, 289, 296–8, 369, 372–3; in Oxford (spring 1940), 285–6; in Athens with British Council, 296, 495–6, 503, 505–6, 602; and death of brother Don, 372–3, 378, 416–17, 602; lives in Egypt, 378, 381, 383, 385–6, 387, 416; lives with Gathorne-Hardy, 385–6; and Excellent Women, 405–6, 416, 423; death of lover Gamal, 416; friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, 420–1, 563; and Jane and Prudence, 431, 435, 446; on Less Than Angels, 446; leaves Cape, 489; and Skipper, 495–6; and An Unsuitable Attachment, 505; An Object for a Walk, 533; celebrates Pym’s rehabilitation, 574; on Quartet in Autumn, 583; memorandum written after Pym’s death, 602–3; Kind Relations, 95, 129, 166, 168; Stepsons, 95, 130, 168, 173; The Last Enchantments, 168, 378, 383–4, 415–17, 420–1; The Almond Tree, 242; The Gantillons, 285, 286

  literature: eighteenth-century, 3, 29, 61; Angela Brazil’s school stories, 15–16; in Pym’s youth, 16–18, 19–21; English tradition of the country house, 17–18; the modern novel, 17–18; Pym’s course at Oxford, 35, 61, 65, 73, 78–9, 87, 128; Middle English, 128; Woolf’s ‘special technique,’ 304–5 see also Betjeman, John; Larkin, Philip; poetry

  Liverpool, 81, 198, 224; George Henry Lee (department store), 16; as WW2 target, 257, 286, 290–2, 294, 303, 306, 327–8; Blitz (autumn 1940), 290–2, 294, 303

  Liverpool College for Girls, Huyton, 15, 16–18, 22

  Llangollen, 48

  Lloyd, John Trevor, 23

  Lloyd George, David, 193–4

  Llynclys, village of, 48

  London: Pym’s cousins in Hatch End, 10, 76, 87, 88; Gleadow’s family flat in, 45–6; Pym’s love of shopping in, 76, 88; Amery’s house at 112 Eaton Square, 223, 236, 248–9, 252–3, 264–5, 271–2, 306, 309; 27 Upper Berkeley Street, 235–6; the Blitz, 290, 299, 324; Rosemary Topping in, 299, 340, 359; Pyms live at 108 Cambridge Street, Pimlico, 377–9, 380–1, 383, 399; bedsit land, 378, 403, 477, 480, 509, 579, 605; as grim in post-war period, 379, 403, 441–2, 478; Pyms live at 47 Nassau Road, Barnes, 411, 449–52; suburbia in Less Than Angels, 434, 436–7, 449; in A Glass of Blessings, 460–4; Pyms live at 40 Brooksville Avenue, Queen’s Park, 470–1, 476, 477, 485–6, 495, 496, 498, 502–3, 525, 559; in An Unsuitable Attachment, 478–80; and Skipper, 494, 507–10, 513–17, 518, 525–6, 529–30; the Kardomah (on Piccadilly), 502, 518, 524, 544, 553; the swinging sixties in, 1–2, 578; as changing in early 1970s, 553, 557–8; Gamages demolished, 553, 557; Pym rents room in Balcombe Street, 556, 560

  London Mercury, 150, 160

  London School of Economics, 382, 544

  Long, Rob, 405

  Longford, Christine, Countess of, 158–9

  Longmans (publisher), 541

  Love Affair (Leo McCarey film, 1939), 249

  MacAdam, Miles, 40, 42, 43–4, 45–6, 48, 52

  MacDonald (publisher), 542

  Maclean, Alan, 572, 574

  Macmillan (publisher), 173, 541–2, 572, 573, 574, 576, 591, 601

  Macmillan, Harold, 477, 513–14

  MacNeice, Louis, Letters from Iceland, 198

  Maier, Karl, 151–2

  ‘Make-do and Mend�
�� campaign, 397

  Makins, Peggy, 583

  Malvern, 523–4, 528–9

  The Man I Married (I Married a Nazi) (Irving Pichel film, 1940), 300–2

  Mann, Thomas, 107

  Margaret, Princess, 477, 490

  Marks and Spencer, 435

  Márquez, Gabriel García, One Hundred Years of Solitude, 552

  Marvell, Andrew, 57–8, 546; ‘The Definition of Love,’ 43; ‘To His Coy Mistress,’ 43, 205

  Maschler, Tom, 489, 564, 573, 574, 576, 585

  Meek, C.K., 418–19

  Messiaen, Olivier, 588

  #MeToo movement, 607

  Mexico, 524–5

  Middle English, 128

  Milne-Watson, Sir David, 452

  Milton, John, Samson Agonistes, 116, 132, 136

  Mitchell, Brian, 163

  Mitford, Deborah, 362, 465

  Mitford, Diana, 108, 138, 139, 268

  Mitford, Nancy, Wigs on the Green, 138–9, 142, 157

  Mitford, Unity Valkyrie, 105, 106, 108, 121, 138–9; anti-Semitism of, 141; shoots herself (September 1939), 268–9, 362

  Moberly, Annie, 297

  Monteith, Charles, 518, 519, 521–2

  Montgomery, Bernard Law, 364

  Moore, Henry, 497

  Moorehead, Caroline, 576

  Morrell, Lady Ottoline, 17

  Mosley, Oswald, 138, 194

  Motion, Andrew, 474

  Mullard, Julie, 506

  Munich, 268

  Munich agreement (1938), 228–9

  Munthe, Axel, 365–6

  Murdoch, Iris, 459, 552, 583–4

  music, 83, 330, 543; opera, 9, 109, 366, 503, 588; jazz, 27, 356, 543; dance music in 1930s, 75, 112, 174–5, 543; and Don Liddell, 95, 127, 130–1, 390; classical, 325, 351, 588; the Beatles, 2, 486, 497, 502, 543, 581; Pym’s Desert Island choices, 588–9

  Mussolini, Benito, 289

  Nabokov, Vladimir, 570

  Naples, 363, 364–70, 371, 372, 588

  National Health Service, 577

  National Portrait Gallery, 546

  National Union of Students, 106, 116, 122, 139

  Naumann, Walter, 219

  Nazi Germany: Pym’s enthusiasm for, 92, 101, 106, 107–8, 112, 116, 123–5, 139–40, 144–5, 152–7, 226, 605, 609; British tourists to, 105–6, 108; initial view of Hitler in England, 105, 108; National Union of Students visit to Cologne (1934), 106–8, 109–11, 112, 116; SS, 107–8, 111, 120–1, 218, 220–1; anti-Semitism in, 107, 114, 140–1, 213–14, 218–19, 221, 225–6, 298–9; public book burnings in, 107; Stormtroopers (SA), 107, 120–1; Hitler Youth, 108, 121; Nuremberg rallies, 108; Night of the Long Knives (1934), 120–1; Glück’s closeness to Hitler, 120, 149; Pym returns to (summer 1934), 123–5; head of state referendum (August 1934), 124–5; ‘Horst Wessel Lied,’ 124, 145, 372; scenes in Some Tame Gazelle (later removed), 124, 152–7, 161, 163; Gleadow on, 125, 148, 347; ‘Heil’ Hitler salute, 125; Pym’s third visit to (April 1935), 137, 139–40; Pym’s highly romanticised view of, 142, 152–7; Pym’s fourth visit to (summer 1935), 148–9; 1936 Summer Olympics, 149, 164–5, 219; and Barbara Rucker, 151–2; the Anschluss (March 1938), 208, 233; family concerns over Pym’s support for, 214, 216–17, 226; Pym’s fifth visit to (spring 1938), 217–21, 222–3; removal of from Some Tame Gazelle, 217, 389–90; ‘euthanasia’ killing centres, 221; and the Sudetenland, 221, 223, 224, 225–6, 228–9; Wannsee conference (January 1942), 221; Pym’s return home through (September 1938), 227–8, 371–2; occupation of Czechoslovakia, 248; invasion of Poland, 253; atrocities in concentration camps, 269–70; Pym turns against, 270, 281; Pym’s romanticised view of, 270, 609; offensive in West (May 1940), 286–7; in So Very Secret (Pym’s spy novel), 308; invasion of Yugoslavia (April 1941), 312; Nora Waln’s writing on, 315–16 see also Glück, Friedbert; Hitler, Adolf

  New Statesman and Nation, 413

  The New Yorker, 590, 596

  Newstead Abbey, 596

  Nicolson, Harold, 229, 382–3, 412, 498, 543

  O’Hanlon, Bill, 447

  Oliver, Eric, 457–8, 461, 464, 499

  Orlando Press, 549

  Orwell, George, 607

  Oswestry, Shropshire, 7–11; Morda Lodge, 7–9, 49, 136, 149–50, 207, 279; contrast with Oxford, 28–9, 30–1, 176; Pym’s boredom in, 30–1, 49, 120, 176, 233; Gleadow’s stay at Morda Lodge, 47–9; Henry, Jock and Barnicot at Morda Lodge (summer 1935), 149–50; Pym returns to (winter 1935-6), 160, 161; in ‘Beatrice Wyatt,’ 231, 233; Pym in at outbreak of war, 253; ‘Birkenhead refugees’ in, 257, 258–61, 262–4, 265–7, 279; Pym joins ARP (June 1940), 289–92, 294–5, 298, 303, 307; army tented camp at, 293, 294, 303; Pym works at wartime baby clinic, 298, 300, 306; sale of Morda Lodge, 305–6, 316; Garth Derwen (Pym’s aunt’s house), 306; Pym leaves for good (1945), 374; sale of Blytheswood, 377; Pym’s father’s old age in, 507

  Owen, Wilfred, 7

  Owens, Jesse, 165

  Oxford Comment, 199

  Oxford University: women at, 3, 24–5, 26–7, 64–5, 605; as Irena Pym’s ambition for her daughters, 15; dress codes in, 22–3, 24, 72; ancient rules/traditions, 24, 27–8, 36, 52, 72; as male world in 1930s, 24, 64–5, 605; restrictions/rules relating to sexual matters, 24, 25, 37–8, 43, 233–4; and social class, 24, 51–2, 474; Pym finds sexually ‘intoxicating,’ 26–7, 32–4; in Pym’s novels, 26–7, 52, 127–9, 134, 231–5, 237–41, 244–7, 312, 414, 425–6; Pym’s memories of, 27, 150, 254, 573; Pym home from for the holidays, 28–9, 30–1, 35, 45–50, 75–7, 78–81, 88–90, 98–101; Pym’s crushes on youthful dons, 28, 32, 33, 34, 36–7, 38, 39, 41, 42, 52; Pym’s English course at, 35, 61, 65, 73, 78–9, 87, 128; punting at, 36, 43; Pym’s summer of love (1932), 42–4; and Philip Larkin, 51–2, 473–4, 475, 500–1, 544; sexual incident with Gleadow at, 52–6, 57, 58–9, 64; Pym’s pursuit of Harvey at, 60–3, 65–6, 72–3, 84, 92; sexual behaviour of male students, 64–5; Pym’s first date with Harvey, 67–9, 91, 287; Pym’s sexual ‘reputation’ at, 69–70; Pym’s bouts of depression at, 73–4, 75–6, 77, 86–7; Pym returns to for final year (1933), 82–4; Hilary Pym at Lady Margaret Hall, 87, 136, 199; Pym’s sexual activity with Henry at, 90, 93, 94, 95–7, 113–14, 116, 117–18, 122; Pym’s activity with Henry, 94, 96–7, 113–14; student protest in favour of communism (May 1934), 94; Pym’s final term at (1934), 112–15, 116–19, 126; Pym awarded second-class degree, 120; Pym returns for viva, 122; Pym receives BA degree (November 1934), 135; Pym’s return visits to (1935-8), 136–7, 142, 143–7, 159–60, 163, 173–5, 192–4, 199–200, 201–6; Jock Liddell’s novels on, 168, 378, 383–4, 415, 416–17; Julien Amery at Balliol, 193, 199–200, 201–4, 205–6, 207; in ‘Beatrice Wyatt,’ 231–5; in Crampton Hodnet (novel), 237–41, 244–7; Union motion on conscription (April 1939), 248; during Second World War, 285–6; Bayley and Cecil at New College, 459–60; Larkin’s fellowship at All Souls, 544; Pym feasts at (end of 1977), 589–90; Oxford days as happiest of Pym’s life, 598 see also Bodleian Library, Oxford; St Hilda’s College, Oxford

  Paalen, Wolfgang, 247

  Pakenham, Christine, 383

  Pakenham, Edward, 158

  Pakenham, Lady Julia, 127, 139

  Palmer, Dick, 321, 356

  Palmer, Mary, 321, 323–4

  Park Hall camp, Shropshire, 294, 298, 299, 303

  Payne, Jack, 27, 356, 543

  Pearsall Smith, Logan, All Trivia, 326, 334, 422, 432

  Pedley, Dorothy, 26, 36, 91, 106, 107–8, 117

  Penguin, 596

  Penguin New Writing, 312, 316

  Peter Davies (publisher), 542

  Pimlico, 377–9, 380–1, 399

  Pinker, James Brand, 180

  Pinney family, 347–8, 349

  Pinter, Ralph, 242–3

  Pixley, Olive, 47

  Pizzey, Beatrice, 357

  Plath, Sylvia, 74, 486, 569

  Plomer, William, 420

  Plomley, Roy, 588, 591

  poetry: Housman’s ‘blue remembered hills,’ 7; Pym’s
early poems, 16–17, 23; of Matthew Arnold, 23, 327; Pym’s undergraduate study of, 35, 61, 65, 78–9, 128; and sex, 35, 43, 57–8, 133; works of John Donne, 35, 57, 133; of Andrew Marvell, 43, 57–8, 205, 546; eighteenth-century, 61, 189; Pym’s ‘Sandra to Lorenzo,’ 65; Wordsworth on, 66; ‘The Owl and the Nightingale,’ 73; Romantic, 79, 90, 445, 496–7, 529, 537; Henry’s penchant for quoting from, 128, 394; German, 140, 145, 153, 156–7, 193, 214, 609; of Stevie Smith, 181; modern, 198; Pym’s poem in the style of John Betjeman, 203–4, 223; The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse, 389; Skipper’s apology for hitting cat, 516–17

  Poland, 223–6, 227, 248; Hitler’s invasion of, 253; Russians enter (1939), 269

  Polish Candlelight Club (Chepstow Villas), 447

  politics, UK: Julian Amery’s ambitions, 193–4, 244, 245–6, 265, 271–2; appeasement in 1930s, 229, 276; crisis of May 1940, 286–7; Profumo affair, 487, 513–14; general election (1964), 513–14

  Portmeirion (Wales), 177

  Portugal, 443–5, 453

  Poundisford Park Lodge (Somerset), 12–13

  Powell, Anthony, 527–8, 575

  Powell, Enoch, 486

  Prague, 219, 221, 248

  Profumo affair, 487, 513–14

  Proust, Marcel, In Search of Lost Time, 456

  Public Libraries and Museums Act (1964), 533

  Publisher’s Weekly, 583

  publishing industry: writers’ conference in Swanwick, 242; Compton-Burnett on, 297; in USA, 446; in No Fond Return of Love (novel), 465–6; Pym rejected by (1963), 482; and sexual revolution of 1960s, 486–7, 548; and closure of subscription libraries, 489, 532–3; dire state of in 1960s, 489, 533, 541–2; insistence on ‘contemporary novels,’ 497, 552–3; Larkin on, 521–2, 577; and TLS seventy-fifth anniversary edition, 562, 570–1; Pym’s fortunes change (1977), 570–3, 574–7; and closure of subscription libraries. see also Jonathan Cape (publisher)

  Puccini, Giacamo, Tosca, 588

  Pullein-Thompson, Denis, 192, 193

  Punch magazine, 448

  Pwllheli (Welsh resort), 80, 253, 294

  Pym, Barbara, LITERARY LIFE: reputation for provinciality, 3, 504, 605; the excellent/splendid woman, 9, 173, 230, 344, 399, 402–10, 480, 606; mother’s influence on, 9; writes operetta at age of eight, 10; early poems and stories, 16–17, 23; literary influences, 17–18, 19–20, 172, 177, 179, 186, 191, 209, 281, 304–5, 405, 453–5, 588–9; heroes’ fondness for literary quotations, 17, 128, 246, 394, 429, 537; first (unpublished) novel, 19–21, 23, 177; manuscript collection at Bodleian Library, 19, 152, 585, 608, 609, 611–12; as most autobiographical of writers, 20, 601–2, 610–11; desire to be published, 21, 169–70, 181, 378, 380–1; trivia/small things/quirky detail, 21, 186, 230, 305, 326, 392–3, 404, 413, 500, 520, 546–7, 552, 578–9, 606–7, 611–12; and Compton-Burnett’s novels, 80–1, 182, 185, 186; women with red nails, 91; unrequited love theme, 127–8, 189–90, 460–4, 499, 509, 539, 607, 610; wit and humour in Some Tame Gazelle, 127–8, 132–4, 161, 189–90, 390–6, 398, 413, 505; sense of loss and waste, 131, 134, 397, 476, 527; short stories, 149–50, 160, 304, 399; edits and advises on Liddell’s work, 166, 173; writing process, 172, 589; references to food, 173, 263, 281, 291–2, 391, 544, 594, 611–12; wit and humour, 178, 242, 274–5, 420, 423, 437, 438, 481, 490–1, 546–7, 606, 610; with Pinker agency, 180; letters in Compton-Burnett’s style, 182, 184, 187–8, 197–8, 211–13, 216–17, 386–7; beautiful women in, 188, 190, 238, 403, 405, 408, 409, 425, 503, 544, 580; increased maturity of later works, 189–90, 582, 610–11; finds voice in Gervase and Flora, 190–1; BBC radio interview for Finding a Voice (1978), 209; letters in style of Stevie Smith, 210, 214; metaphor of the ‘lumber room,’ 231, 234, 235, 374; older woman’s relationship with younger man theme, 235, 472, 477, 479, 480, 481, 490, 531, 579, 588–9; working-class characters, 263–4, 266, 407–8, 437, 462–4, 472, 490, 508–9; decayed gentlewomen, 309–10, 403–4, 428, 431, 509, 606; first-person narrative, 309, 399; whimsical and perilous charm, 334; ‘stream-of-consciousness’ style, 336; timeless quality of novels, 390, 578, 579; ageing and the old, 396, 544–5, 554, 556–7, 579–81, 593, 607, 611; loneliness theme, 396, 405, 477–80, 579–81, 583, 607, 611; darkening in tone as Pym matured, 413, 460, 537–9, 582–3, 607; in Liddell’s The Last Enchantments, 415; considers pen name, 418; tea with Elizabeth Bowen, 419–20; sexually liberated women, 424, 425–6, 427, 431, 490–1, 579; assistant editor of Africa, 2, 434, 440, 498; reception of novels overseas, 446–7; woman’s love for homosexual man theme, 458, 460–3, 490, 491, 499, 505, 534, 535–9, 579, 610; writers’ conference in Swanwick (1957), 465–6; middle-class woman’s relationship with working-class man theme, 472, 477, 479, 480, 481, 508–9; correspondence with Larkin, 475–6, 487–8, 489, 500–1, 510, 517–19, 520–1, 542, 547–8, 549, 550–1, 555–6, 558; wilderness years, 482; novels deemed ‘old-fashioned’ in 1960s, 2, 487–8, 490, 541–3; grit beneath the genteel facade, 490–1; writing during the wilderness years, 495, 496–7, 502, 505, 510, 512–13, 517, 531, 549, 550–3, 556–7, 560, 562, 563, 564–5; Writers’ Circle dinner in Malvern, 528–9; pilgrimage to Jane Austen’s cottage, 1, 540; Pym’s Hitchcockian cameos, 544–5, 553; praised for ‘miniaturist’ style, 546–7, 578–9; writes campus novel while convalescing, 549, 550–3; and TLS seventy-fifth anniversary edition, 570–2; change in fortunes of (1977), 570–3, 574–7, 585; visits the Cecils in Dorset, 574–5; feature on Pym for Woman’s Hour, 575; Tea with Miss Pym (The Book Programme film), 575, 576–7; as object of academic study, 576, 612; foreign rights sales, 585; radio talk for Finding a Voice, 585; appears on Desert Island Discs, 586, 588–9, 591, 603; made fellow of Royal Society of Literature, 589–90; favourable American reviews (1979), 596, 597; world of as not a static society, 607 see also autobiographical heroines; clergy, life of; diaries/journals/notebooks