Квартет в осеннюю пору

1977 novel by Barbara Pym

Quartet in Autumn is a novel by British novelist Barbara Pym, first published in 1977. It was highly praised and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the top literary prize in the UK. This was considered a comeback novel for Pym; she had fallen out of favour as styles changed, and her work had been rejected by publishers for 15 years. This followed her successful record as a novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s. As a novel, it represents a departure from her earlier style of light comedy, as it is the story of four office workers on the verge of retirement.

Marcia, Letty, Norman and Edwin work in the same office. None is married (Edwin being a widower) and all are nearing retirement age. Letty plans to move to the country and live with her long time friend Marjorie, a widow. She has to change her plans when Marjorie announces that she is to marry a clergyman some years younger than herself. After Marcia and Letty retire, each is faced with challenges. The house in which Letty has a bedsit is sold and she becomes uncomfortable there. Edwin finds her a room in the house of an elderly widow, where she is reasonably comfortable. Marcia, already reclusive, and vulnerable after having a breast removed, has to deal with the loss of the routine that was an essential part of her life. She withdraws even further from the outside world, and eats less and less. She is found in a state of collapse by a voluntary social worker who has been visiting her, and, coincidentally, by Edwin and his parish priest. She is taken to hospital but dies a few days later, weighing six stone. She has unexpectedly left her house to Norman, in whom she had indulged a brief and secret semi romantic interest. When Marjorie's fiancé deserts her for a younger woman, she renews her invitation to Letty to come and live with her. But by now Letty is not so sure she wants to live in the country, and does not immediately make up her mind. She realises that she has opportunities to make her own choices. Similarly, Norman can decide whether or not to live in Marcia's house. At the end of the book, Letty tells Norman and Edwin that Marjorie has invited the three of them to join her for a day in the country. She thinks this would be a consolation for the jilted Marjorie, and, though she envisages no romantic developments, enjoys being in a position to supply some male company.

Combined with the media interest after the piece in The Times Literary Supplement, Quartet in Autumn was a success, with almost universally positive reviews, including in The Guardian and The Sunday Times. Kirkus Reviews considered the book "Terribly brisk, but very affecting". The only publications to write mixed reviews were The Sunday Telegraph and the New Statesman. As this was the first time most American readers had heard of Pym, there was especial interest in her from American media outlets. The New York Review of Books favourably reviewed Quartet alongside the earlier Excellent Women while The New York Times published a review entitled The Best High Comedy. The novel was shortlisted for the 1977 Booker Prize, but the winner was Paul Scott's Staying On.

Quartet in Autumn was serialised by BBC radio on its Woman's Hour programme in 1978. In 2015, York Theatre Royal commissioned a workshop version of a stage adaptation, written by Amanda Whittington and directed by C P Hallam.