Virago Modern Classics discussion

In a poll for July 2025 won No Fond Return Of Love by Barbara Pym.

Who is going to read it? How do you like it?

If you have read it already, or you are reading it at another (later) time - write here what you think about the book too.

[Please keep in mind to hide spoilers in spoiler brackets.]

I tried it a week or two ago, but it bored me. I am going to try it again. I hope it was a wrong mood or that I have to go through a few chapters to start enjoying it.

I couldn't align myself with the characters on offer here.

I haven't finished it. When I think of the characters, they sound charming, a great bunch for a witty story. But I couldn't get involved.

I’ve just started reading and so far, I’m loving it. I just love Barbara Pym’s humorous observations.
The main character of Dulcie (from what I read in the book synopsis) is meant to be a rather dull busybody. But I’m liking her so far. Anyone who believes that “Life’s problems are often eased by hot milky drinks” is alright by me!

I’ve just finished and it’s another solid 5 stars from me. Is anyone else currently reading it? I won’t publish my thoughts till others have finished.

Glad you enjoyed it Petra. I've read a few of Pym's novels but I just don't think that she is an author for me.

I really have to be in the mood for her work, something like Elizabeth Bowen, need to be in the right mindset at the time.

In honour of Dulcie’s tedious job as indexer, I’ve made my own mini index of themes and instances that grabbed me from the book.

Baked Beans (unlucky with): Miss Lord refers to an upsetting incident in a cafe when she had asked for baked beans and was told there were none left, but the man in the queue behind her asked for beans and got them!! That such a trivial upset should be mentioned is one of my favourite things about Pym’s observations. She really ‘gets’ how people can overcome all sorts of serious problems, but tiny trivial happenings, such as being denied baked beans can upset someone’s inner peace for weeks.

Clergy: A recurring theme in Pym’s works. Usually considered as people with gravity, but often used for comical effect. You almost can’t turn a page without there being a reference to a member of the Clergy.

Coffee Bar: Another recurring theme in Pym’s works, as a meeting place for wanton youths and Bohemian types.

Flowers: This seems to be another recurring theme about class status. The flowers mentioned are usually in bunches for gifts, in arrangements in the home or in cultivated gardens. Wild flowers seem to be looked down upon by the aspirant classes -one vicar’s wife almost shudders in disgust at the suggestion of wild flowers being bought into the church as a display. Paul Beltane (Laurel’s love interest/Dulcie’s neighbour) has a flower shop in Kensington High Street.

Food: Mentions of the food at meal-times is always incredibly dreary and plain. Meat is boiled, fruit is stewed, etc. The ‘fanciest’ foodstuff mentioned is the ‘nice salad’ that Viola had bought when Dulcie goes round for ‘a meal’.

Guest Appearances: Wilmet and her husband, Piers and Keith ( from ‘A Glass of Blessings’) are visiting the Castle in Taviscombe. Dulcie comments that ‘they are like characters from a novel’! Does Barbara Pym herself make a guest appearance as the novelist at the hotel observing the other diners?

House-Guests: Dulcie’s once solitary existence in her large house (somewhere ‘past Hammersmith’ - see also, London Neighbourhoods) is shattered when her teenage Niece, Laurel, and recent acquaintance,Viola Dace, become house-guests. What initially seems like an exciting prospect, soon starts to grate on Dulcie’s nerves when her regular routine is disrupted and her house guests untidy habits are revealed.

Libertine: Aylwin Forbes is referred to as a ‘Libertine’ by a lady at a jumble sale (in aid of a new Church Organ - because, what else could it be in aid of in a Barbara Pym book?!).

London Neighbourhoods: Recurring theme in Pym’s works. Used to denote the Class of a person.

No Fond Return of Love: The many cases of unrequited love. Viola and Dulcie have a crush on Aylwin Forbes (see also, Libertine). But Aylwin has a crush on Laurel. Paul Beltane also has a crush on Laurel. Miss Spicer from the church is ‘in love’ with the Reverend Neville Forbes, causing quite a scandal in his Parish, and causing him to leave for a while to live in his mother’s seaside hotel.

One thing lead to another: Whilst this phrase usually refers to the start of a sexual liaison, in Aunt Hermione’s case the ‘another’ was her starting to launder the Vicar’s Surplices. Still, it lead to the eventual path of marriage for her, even if vastly less titillating.

Poetry: There are many poetic quotes in the novel. But my favourite has to be the one thought up by Senhor MacBride-Pereira as he watches Mrs Beltane watering her flowers in the garden - “ Lines to a Lady with a Watering Can in the form of a Swan”! A poem such as this would go down well at poetry night in one of those Bohemian Coffee Bars!

Research (see also, Snooping,Stalking):Dulcie has to get her info about people from the telephone directory and public library. Just imagine if there had been the internet and social media in her time! She does go to some quite dramatic lengths in trying to find more about Aylwin Forbes. At one point she questions why she is so obsessed with Aylwin’s family and recognises that her stalking is ‘degrading’ to her victims. Doesn’t stop her though!

Shoes: Pym’s frequent references to the types of shoes people are wearing are another example of her brilliant humorously snippy/sniffy observations of the human condition. People are judged by their shoes, which is bananas if you think about it. But was (possibly still is) one of those strange barometers of class/personality.

Stone Squirrel: In the first flushes of wooing Marjorie, the Libertine Aylwin steals an ornamental stone squirrel from the neighbour’s garden as a gift for her. Years later, after Marjorie has left him and gone back to her Mother, he (when trying to ‘sort things out’) is distressed that the stone squirrel has been thrown away by the new neighbours. Perhaps signifying how he threw his marriage away over a meaningless kiss with Viola Dace.