{"product_id":"the-sweet-dove-died-9781681379753","title":"The Sweet Dove Died","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn acidly funny novel about a woman who falls for a much younger man by one of Britain's great writers of social comedy, now back in print. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA lesser-known, darker sister to Barbara Pym's \u003ci\u003eExcellent Women\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sweet Dove Died \u003c\/i\u003eis one of Barbara Pym's last novels, in which her work took on a new, keen edge. It is about a woman's attachment to a man much younger than herself. Beautiful and self-absorbed, Leonora Eyre has a passion for collecting Victorian objects and is coolly indifferent towards everything outside of her fastidious, elegant existence. When she is courted by Humphrey, a widowed antiques dealer, she disdains his advances, preferring rather the attentions of his twenty-four-year-old nephew, James. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLeonora's possession of James is challenged, however, first by Phoebe, a bookish young woman his own age, and then by the suave and seductive Ned, a visiting American professor with whom James quickly becomes infatuated. Pym's sharp eye for comedy and shrewd observation of English manners are on full display in this finely wrought novel of love, loss, and all the hopes and disappointments that befall the human heart.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBarbara Pym\u003c\/b\u003e (1913-1980) was born in Shropshire and educated at Oxford. After serving in the censorship office and the Women's Royal Navy Service during World War II, she worked at the International African Institute in London and served as an editor of the journal \u003ci\u003eAfrica \u003c\/i\u003euntil her retirement in 1974. She wrote her first novel, \u003ci\u003eSome Time Gazelle\u003c\/i\u003e, in the 1930s. It took many years to find a publisher. Five more novels appeared in the fifties and early sixties, and then, though she never stopped writing, sixteen years passed before the publication of her late masterpieces, \u003ci\u003eQuartet in Autumn\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Sweet Dove Died\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Few Green Leaves \u003c\/i\u003e(published posthumously). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eSusie Boyt\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of seven novels and the memoir \u003ci\u003eMy Judy Garland Life\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize, staged at the Nottingham Playhouse, and serialized on BBC Radio 4. She has written about art, life, and fashion for the \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e for many years and recently edited \u003ci\u003eThe Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories\u003c\/i\u003e by Henry James.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51603335643410,"sku":"9781681379753","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a2ce2dd7-6af9-457c-8d86-6a09c244ec18.jpg?v=1757434709","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-sweet-dove-died-9781681379753","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}