Sweet Dove Died (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Over Barbara Pym's 30-year writing career her primary subject was the intricate rituals of English life, which she observed with a sharp but understanding eye. Her novels now enjoy a devoted following and belated recognition as classics of the British comic novel. In The Sweet Dove Died, first published in 1978, she sardonically uncovers the sometimes troubling truths behind relationships. A chance encounter over a Victorian flower book brings together Humphrey, an antique dealer, James, his nephew, and Leonora. Although she is considerably older, Leonora develops a fondness for James. She's determined to keep him under her spell, until she realizes that she has to contend with the bookish Phoebe. When Ned, a wicked young American, appears on the scene, the book begins to live up to its droll title, taken from John Keats.

About the Author

When the Times Literary Supplement asked critics to name the most underrated authors of the past 75 years, only one was mentioned twice: Barbara Pym. Barbara Pym wrote nine novels, including An Unsuitable Attachment, Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died. She died in 1980. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Moyer Bell (March 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559213019
• ISBN-13: 978-1559213011
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #430,345 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best novels I've ever read., February 10, 2003

By	I. Sondel "I. Sondel - lover of the arts" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I happened upon this slim volume by accident the other day - and what a happy accident it turned out to be. Barbara Pym's "The Sweet Dove Died" is a novel of unrequited love - an unnatural love of an older woman for a much younger gay man. There are shades of the Tennessee Williams classic "The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone," yet the writing style is more akin to Patrick Gale's early works "The Aerodynamics of Pork" and "Kansas in August."
Pym's novels are what used to be called "comedies of manners." Her work is immediately engaging, always amusing, and quite pointed in its depiction of a woman so consumed with the appearence of perfection that she misses every opportunity for happiness.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Newly hooked on Barbara Pym, May 8, 2003

By A Customer

This was the second Barbara Pym book I have ever read and it confirmed to me that she is greatly underrated as a writer. Though not perhaps as brilliantly comic as Excellent Women, Sweet Dove Died is gently satirical in the most delicious way. The type of woman she deals with is, this time, the affected 'lady of a certain age', rather than the humble and worthy types. One could almost imagine that this is how Madame Bovary may have turned out, had she had lived a city life. There is nothing prudish about Pym and readers today may be struck by how 'modern' she still appears, particularly in her depiction of the younger male characters in this novel. Greatly enjoyable.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entanglements, February 1, 2005

By	Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The definition of entangle is to write or knit together confusedly. This rather describes the progress of the characters in Barbara Pym's THE SWEET DOVE DIED.

Humphrey Boyce has an antiques shop. James, his orphaned newphew, commences to work at the shop after finishing at Oxford. At an auction they meet Leonora Eyre. Later Humphrey plans to have lunch with Leonora who is in her fifties. This is a novel of manners and amusement. Leonora, whose dinner with a friend and two very young men is described as being disappointing, regrets that James is not present, too. She finagles the interactions with Humphrey to go back to the shop to see James and accepts a ride with James because conveniently he is going in the direction of her house. James is too young to assume that a woman living alone is to be pitied.

For Christmas Leonora receives a paperweight from Humphrey and a card from James. She puts James's card near her bedside table. After Christmas Leonora's new social life with Humphrey and James picks up again. When the shop is the subject of a burglary Leonora sends flowers. Through various machinations she actually sends James's young woman friend to Majorca, but she cannot best a male friend Ned who, for a time, captures James's attention.

I am certain Barbara Pym has been compared to Jane Austen many times. Clearly the thrust of their works differ. Barbara Pym is not concerned with setting up a young person for life in some sort of matrimonial arrangement. Nevertheless, the means used, the comedy, the irony, the light touch and excellent writing are similar. "A sweet dove died" comes from a Keats poem.