BOOK REVIEW: A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym

I read Barbara Pym’s Some Tame Gazelle a while back and it made me determined to read more by this critically acclaimed but often overlooked British author.

A Glass of Blessings, first published in 1958, is another delightful comedy of manners. Following the musings and day-to-day activities of a British suburban housewife, Wilmet Forsyth, it presents an humorous look at the rather dull middle class.

It is Wilmet’s thirty-third birthday. She begins the day at church, mainly to see what is going on rather than to worship. The reader is introduced to the elderly Father Thames and the not-quite-as-old Father Bode. (Clergy always play a role in Pym’s work.) But Wilmet’s interest is caught by the unexpected presence of Piers Longridge, the very attractive brother of her best friend Rowena.

Wilmet’s social circle is relatively small, consisting of fellow parishioners, Rowena and her husband Harold, Wilmet’s own husband Rodney, and her mother-in-law, Sybil. (Wilmet and Rodney live in Sybil’s home, and the two women are close.) Wilmet’s daily life consists of shopping, having tea, gossiping, and wishing she was more useful. After reconnecting with Piers, she also starts considering--even planning--an affair.

Wilmet is stylish, pretty, and reasonably sociable. She’s bored at home, having no interest in what Rodney does "at the Ministry" and seemingly very little interest in Rodney. Aware that Rowena worries about her brother because he can’t seem to settle into a permanent occupation and because she does not approve of his friends, Wilmet decides to make him a project. This is her excuse for trying to see him more often and allowing herself to flirt.

Meanwhile, she also tries her hand at a few other projects: finding a new housekeeper for the clergy, befriending the dowdy do-gooder who makes her feel particularly unworthy and, at the same time, superior, and even learning a little Portuguese in advance of a summer vacation.

Wilmet is a surprisingly shallow character, considering how she shines as a protagonist. She is remarkably self-centered. She’s kind, but her motivation is really because she believes it will reflect well on herself. And she is a bit miffed when any attractive man seems to show interest in someone else. Still, the running monologue going through her head and the quips she makes are very funny, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. And, to her credit, when things don’t go her way, she takes it all in stride, never turning petty or mean.

This is an odd book. Wilmet does not lead an exciting life, and the minutiae of her activities would make for dull reading if not for the underlying irony. The book flies by considering how little happens to Wilmet. (Although plenty is going on around her, to which she is more or less oblivious.) Pym’s novels are a wonderful way to pass the time and give you something to think about when the story is through.