Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Excellent Women

By: Barbara Pym
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, Gerry Halligan
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Mildred Lathbury is one of those 'excellent women' who is often taken for granted. She is a godsend, 'capable of dealing with most of the stock situations of life - birth, marriage, death, the successful jumble sales, the garden fete spoilt by bad weather'. As such, she often gets herself embroiled in other people's lives - especially those of her glamorous new neighbours, the Napiers, whose marriage seems to be on the rocks.

One cannot take sides in these matters, though it is tricky, especially as Mildred, teetering on the edge of spinsterhood, has a soft spot for dashing young Rockingham Napier. This is Barbara Pym's world at its funniest and most touching.

©1952 Barbara Pym (P)2011 Hachette Digital
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Barbara Pym: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym cover art
The White Marriage cover art
Mums on the Run cover art
Celia's House cover art
The Light Years cover art
Stormrise cover art
Pride and Prejudice cover art
Middlemarch cover art
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment cover art
Miss Buncle's Book cover art
The Corner Shop cover art
Emma [Naxos Edition] cover art
A Town Like Alice cover art
Can You Forgive Her? cover art
Breakfast at Tiffany's cover art

What listeners say about Excellent Women

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    185
  • 4 Stars
    90
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    183
  • 4 Stars
    59
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    166
  • 4 Stars
    66
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Charming account of days gone by

Nothing of any note happens at all and that’s absolutely fine!
Couldn’t help but laugh at some of the outdated concepts and I wondered at times if it’s a parody? Is it?
But yes i so wish today was like these times where everyone had a place/a job to do and was happy with that.
Well worth a read will cheer you up. :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent novel- middling reader.

The novel itself is fine- but as an audio-book it doesn't really tick all the boxes.



Firstly it has to be pointed out that it is NOT (as described) narrated by Jonathan Keeble- he reads the introduction by Alexander Maccoll Smith- but from there on Geri Halligan (sp?) takes over.



She reads it much better than I could have done- but I'm afraid she's not really out of the top-drawer of narrators- she falls down badly on the male voices, which tend to be nasal, same-ish and lacking in the necessary charm.



I also felt that a posher, more clipped voice would have suited the middle-class post-war Pym world better- Another narrator (without turning it into a Brief Encounter parody) might have captured the 'feel' of the period better.



Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Observational humour at its best

I loved everything about this audio book. I found it extremely witty, clever, relevant and well narrated. A total delight .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good social history

Excellent soothing listen about nothing in particular . A more gentle time with the same passion s heartbreaks and minutiae of everyday life. Very well observed central character. A hint perhaps vicar Julian was in the closet?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Subtle, wry comedy of manners

Both entertaining and melancholy, with fabulous cast of eccentric characters. Narration perfectly acceptable - female characters perhaps rendered more convincingly than the male.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delicious !

This was my first intro to BP and I am now addicted thanks to this wonderful , atmospheric performance. Who knew a world full of vicars, teapots and excellent women could be so intriguing. Thank you!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

another world!

I enjoyed this book, though I had to listen on 1.25 speed as I prefer a more clipped tone, which I feel is more in keeping with the strange charm of Barbara Pym's books. They really depict another world! I find them very relaxing to listen to whilst sewing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Brilliant, Subtle.Book

This is a wonderful novel, clever, subtle, and hunorous. This is a gem of a novel, and the narration is excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable but ....

This is an enjoyable read with extremely good characterisations but I felt the narration lacked something. It was played straight and so lost the less obvious subtle levels of irony that are intrinsic in the writing. I also thought that a more clipped enunciation would have been more appropriate to the genteel 50s setting as successfully used by Patricia Hodge or Juliet Stevenson.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A period piece

Pym is as an acute, subtle and witty social observer as Jane Austen. Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!