Jane and Prudence

By: Barbara Pym

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The author of Excellent Women explores female friendship and the quiet yearnings of British middle-class life - a literary delight for fans of Jane Austen.

Jane Cleveland and Prudence Bates were close friends at Oxford University, but now live very different lives. Forty-one-year-old Jane lives in the country, is married to a vicar, has a daughter she adores, and lives a very proper life in a very proper English parish. Prudence, a year shy of 30, lives in London, has an office job, and is self-sufficient and fiercely independent - until Jane decides her friend should be married. Jane has the perfect husband in mind for her former pupil: a widower named Fabian Driver.

But there are other women vying for Fabian's attention. And Pru is nursing her own highly inappropriate desire for her older, married, and seemingly oblivious employer, Dr. Grampian. What follows is a witty, delightful, trenchant story of manners, morals, family, and female bonding that redefines the social novel for a new generation.

©1981 The Estate of Barbara Pym (P)2020 Tantor

Narrator is unbearable! Fake English accent. Ugh!

I cannot imagine who owns the rights to the works of Barbara Pym and would allow Audible to hire this inept and embarrassing narrator. This author is one of the greatest 20th century masters of high comedy and the observational novel. Her work is butchered by Mary Sarah. Lovers of Pym's works should get them on tape from the British recordings. What the hell is wrong with Audible?

Lovely story, lackluster narrator

Like many reviewers, I was thrilled to see more Barbara Pym titles available on Audible. And I was also crestfallen when I listened to the narrator. Who in the world pronounces "relax" as "relocks"? Her accent was utterly unconvincing, the sort that Americans do when they're trying to sound posh, and her delivery was fey and monotonous. I'm partially blind, so my options are limited - I can't just find a paperback somewhere and read that if I don't like the narrator. Now, I must choose between listening to a narrator make a sad hash of truly delightful books or limit myself to "Excellent Woman," which has a fine narrator. Barbara Pym deserves better.

If you can handle the lamentable narration, I do recommend the book - it is funny and bittersweet, just what I'd hoped for.

Strange accent

Miss Pym’s books are a joy! I was excited to listen to them on Audible. But ... Mary Sarah has the strangest English dialect. One I have never encountered. (I am English and attended drama school where we studied the regional dialects.) miss Sarah inserts a rhotic R after virtually every a. Such as thart for that, sard for sad, perharps for perhaps. It is very distracting. She also mispronounces common English place names such as Derbyshire in which the er is pronounced ar. I bought and stuck with all the available titles, but will not listen to any more titles recorded by this performer.

Nuanced and superb insight...lovely English lit

I am a Pym devotee and re-read all of her novels once a year--indeed, it is hard for me to keep it to only once a year. This is how wonderful they are: I like them more with each reading. So many nuances to pick up on and chuckle or commiserate over with the characters. I am so very fond of Jane among the Pym characters toward whom I feel most affectionate, only surpassed by Belinda in Some Tame Gazelle, and Dulcie in No Fond Return of Love.

Originally, I was quite generous writing that "...Jane Doggett should have had a gruffer voice. I am bit spoiled by the old UK recording, though, by Sterling Audio (Eileen Aitkins)..." but the truth is, the narrator really delivers an unsuitable performance. I have to turn the volume way up, for one thing. A really grand narrator will absorb you completely in the story...you might once in a while think, "wow, what a great narrator!" but you are not focused on it, you are immersed in the story itself. This is not the case here, and she pointedly draws extra attention to herself with utterly bizarre chapter announcements. I love Pym so much that I re-listened, but next time, will pick up my old paperback.

Delightful story, terrible narrator

A charming Barbara Pym sketch - not profound or remarkable, even for her, but satisfying. The character of Jane is a standout.

The narrator was terrible. She has an affect that she probably considers “whimsical,” but it is irritating and it trivializes the work. Unfortunate.

Delicious

I am a B.Pym firm fan.Perhaps the narration would be enjoyed by someone who has read the book first,really a delight!The Male voices were a bit unbelievable, but not enough to change the charm of the story.

Charming Story Ruined by Terrible Narration

I adore Barbara Pym's writing, but simply could not finish this audiobook because the narration was dreadful. Mary Sarah's fake English accent sounded so silly and affected that one could almost believe it was intended as a spoof. I was further dismayed to realize that Audible offers several more Pym works with the same awful narration.

Audible, please re-record these novels with a worthy narrator, perhaps Jayne Entwistle, who did a fine job with Excellent Women, or the incomparable Juliet Stevenson. Barbara Pym's many devoted fans will then line up to purchase them!

Wonderful writing woefully narrated

I love everything written by Barbara Pym, including this book, but I could just not get past this reader's delivery. I can't put my finger exactly on what combination of factor renders her unlistenable to me, but I simply could not over ride my aversion beyond about 3 chapters.
She reads in such a languid drawl that I kept expecting a yawn, and this disengagement robbed each character of their distinctive voice, rendering all as an homogeneous monotany of indistinct uniformity floating through scenes in a qualude haze. Barbara Pym writes sublime dialogue saturated with nuance, complexity and subtle wit, which devastatingly was rendered mute by this reader's apparent indifference.
This is the most damning of my observations and was enough to consign this audio book to my reject pile. However, I am put off enough by one more thing that I must mention, though I admit readily I may be incorrect. After all, I am American, not British. But although I cannot know this for sure I suspect this reader does not possess a genuine British accent, rather has 'cultivated' one for the purpose of performance. There is something so odd about her cadence and pronunciation that I can only attribute it to this possibility.
Anyway, audio quality was good, no glaringly mispronounced words, and if you can get past the reader's lack luster and slightly smug sounding voice the content is beyond reproach. So 3 stars.
If you've purchased this book content yourself with knowing it might be good as background noise to put your infant or a pet to sleep.

Barbara Pym is one of the greate

Wonderful book, but the narrator is just not good, especially if you come from Excellent Women. I really hope they rerecord Pym's works with someone better - her work deserves the best!

I ended up getting a physical copy of this book instead, but I did listen to a bit of this on fastforward. Unfortunately the enunciation isn't good enough to understand past 1.75 or so, but I do think increasing speed improves things immensely.

The book itself is immensely beautiful and very witty.

Narrator can't do a British accent

This recording is bizarre. The narrator is American, and she has no idea how to do a British accent. I've listened to / watched hundreds of British productions - NO ONE talks like this. It really ruins the experience of wonderful Barbara Pym.