A Glass of Blessings

A Novel

By: Barbara Pym

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Barbara Pym's early novel takes us into 1950s England, as seen through the funny, engaging, yearning eyes of a restless housewife.

Wilmet Forsyth is bored. Bored with the everyday routine of her life. Bored with teatimes filled with local gossip. Bored with her husband, Rodney, a civil servant who dotes on her. But on her 33rd birthday, Wilmet's conventional life takes a turn when she runs into the handsome brother of her close friend. Attractive and enigmatic, Piers Longridge is a mystery Wilmet is determined to solve. Rather than settling down, he lived in Portugal, then returned to England for a series of odd jobs. Driven by a fantasy of romance, the sheltered, naïve Englishwoman sets out to seduce Piers - only to discover that he isn't the man she thinks he is. 

As cozy as sharing a cup of tea with an old friend, A Glass of Blessings explores timeless themes of sex, marriage, religion, and friendship while exposing our flaws and foibles with wit, compassion, and a generous helping of love.

©1958, 1980, 2008 Barbara Pym (P)2020 Tantor

From elation to bitter disappointment

Was so excited to see the Barbara Pym books. But the reader calls to mind a high school drama student doing her best. If it were your daughter I’m sure you’d be proud of her, but in a professionally read audiobook, it’s unacceptable. Along with the sub-par English accent, the reader has a stilted cadence, a wet p, and a percussive t. I do hate to be so negative - and in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the reader is just fine with American stories. But this is a terrible fit and it’s maddening to listen to it. The humor and subtlety is lost. Audible, please re-do these wonderful Pym stories with a different reader. I beg you for a do-over.

A great novelist butchered by a terrible narrator

Audible has got to be the cheapest outfit for around. How dare they hire of someone as untalented as Mary Sarah Thomas better known for soft points and bodice rippers, To read one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century? I'm sure she came cheap because she's American and is using a phony English accent which is so terrible I almost threw my phone against the wall the 4th time she said "chopp-ter" to introduce the next chapter. Really appalling. Common words are mispronounced as well. Clearly there was no editing or oversight for this piece of garbage.

My favorite author

I’ve loved Barbara Pym for years. Excellent Women is my favorite, and I pleaded with Audible to find or make more Pym audio recordings. Imagine my delight when I found several recently. I used all my points to purchase the new Pym recordings. I had listened to a sample if Mary Sarah reading one or two and was concerned about her fake British breathy, oddly-phrased reading. Mary Sarah comes VERY close to making these recordings unlistenable— she’s absolutely horrible. I’ll try to persist as any other recordings are nearly impossible to obtain. But I must ask Mary, would finding out how the British pronounce “mass” be so difficult ?

Terrible narrator for a wonderful book!

Once again, I found the narrator terrible and I can’t imagine why she was hired to narrate these wonderful Barbara Pym books.

Terrible Accent

Fabulous novel. I had to switch off as the accent was so poor. Disappointed unfortunately.

Delightful, absorbing and insightful

Insightful and charming, another wonderful Barbara Pym novel, that so accurately reflects a time, place and strata in post WWII England. One of her very talented attributes is the seamless and usually very funny, or at a minimum, highly interesting, inclusion of small subplots and minor characters. The minor characters and their situation are highly memorable and absorbing. An example in this novel is the minor characters associated with St. Luke's, such as the young man obsessed with his car. One aspect I love about this novel is that the author's portrait of the main character is affectionate...in the hands of a less subtle novelist, she would probably be vilified and ruined. Highly recommended.

Worst Reader Writer Pairing I've ever Heard!

Many readers probably know the story of Barbara Pym, writer of these great and greatly ironic books written with an acid pen so to be listening to the story read by the sweet and creamy voice of a wanna be upper class brit without a touch of irony in her entire being is just too much. Barbara is roiling in her grave.

Cringe worthy narration

Did Mary Sarah purposely do an awful, bizarre narration of this and a handful of other Pym's novels on audible? It's like she's mocking the author's work. Barbara Pym's novels are superbly written and highly entertaining. Audible, please, have a heart. Please do new versions of these recordings with a professional, good, talented and appropriate narrator. Leaving these recordings the way they are is a travesty.

Re-recording needed desperately

I adore the novels by Barbara Pym. I’ve read my copies over and over until they’re falling apart. After listening to Excellent Women on Audible ,which was delightful,I purchased all of the others. The reader is so ghastly it’s painful. What a bitter disappointment. I can only imagine what the extraordinarily talented Miss Pym would say.

Narration dreadful

The narration ruins one of my favorite books. I love all Barbara Pym books and I could not finish this. I join in the pleas to re-record these wonderful books with a decent narrator.