The Booker Prize-winning author of Orbital reveals why she’s always wanted to write a play, and what drew her to adapt Barbara Pym’s Quartet in Autumn for the stage
Monthly Spotlight: Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
Monthly Spotlight: Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
- Published
Barbara Pym guides us through the small lives of four ageing colleagues as they approach retirement
Quartet in Autumn was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1977.
Barbara Pym published eight novels during her lifetime, with several more works published posthumously.
Quartet in Autumn follows Letty, Marcia, Edwin and Norman. They are all clerks of some kind, working in the same unspecified London office. Each of them lives alone – unmarried or widowed – and we read about the everyday intricacies of their worlds outside of work.
Although not explicitly friends, the quartet think of, and depend on, interactions with each other more than with anyone else. Pym’s writing is loving and poignant, and satirical in the gentlest but sharpest way.
Quartet in Autumn was adapted for the stage in 2026 by Booker Prize 2024 winning author Samantha Harvey. It plays at the Arcola Theatre, London from 7 May to 20 June 2026.
Quartet in Autumn
- By
- Barbara Pym
- Published by
- Macmillan
Barbara Pym’s compassionate and funny novel about four people in late middle-age with different eccentricities but the same problem: loneliness
Features
- Reading guides
Reading guide: Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
- Competition
Win a copy of Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
- Book extract
An extract from Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
- Book recommendations
Eight Booker Prize-nominated books that celebrate ‘spinster lit’
- Book recommendations