Rereading this after 20+ years. So sweet and funny. Must go back and read her entire collection again!

The story of four coworkers, nearing retirement age, who lead very solitary, lonely and quirky lives. They each have a strong sense of propriety that prevents them from forming personal bonds with each other, or anyone else. They all take comfort in the minutiae and routine of their lives, even it is exactly routine and fear of the unknown that has narrowed each of their lives. One of my favorite lines: "Now he had all the freedom that loneliness brings."

This is an odd little book, set in the 1970s when being 60 years old meant being called "dear" and generally regarded as being Very Old. I enjoyed it because who hasn't had a seemingly boring, meaningless office job at some point in their life? It's not a happy read but it's an interesting one.

Four people - not even really friends - work together in an office. The two women retire. Individually they visit libraries and go to church. They meet once for a strange dinner and one of the women begins to behave oddly. The men think they should perhaps see the women more often, but don't. They attend a funeral. And that's about it, but it's wonderful. Funny and sad and poignant about people just getting by and believing loneliness is their lot.

Petit roman qui coule doucement sur le quotidien de quatre collègues de travail d'un certain âge, chacun un peu noyé dans une routine parfois désolante, parfois réconfortante, toujours prudente. Barbara Pym a le don d'ouvrir ces vies tranquilles comme on fait craquer un oeuf : délicatement, mais d'un bon coup de poignet. (& même en perçant le jaune, une fois de temps en temps.)

An enjoyable short read. A meditation on old age and purpose in life; I enjoy that more or less nothing happens in the book, and it has a clear, simple internally coherent structure. Borderline 4-star.

I enjoyed reading about the rich inner lives of not young people