Over the years as Barbara Pym replaced Nancy Mitford Georgette Heyer even Jane Austen as my most loved author I devoured all her books but JANE & PRUDENCE remains my favourite. Even an umpteenth reading this weekend was punctuated by gasps of joy laughter & wonder that this lovely book should remain so fresh funny & true to life Jilly Cooper The setting of this very funny novel one of Barbara Pyms earliest is an English village where Janes husband is the newly appointed vicar & where Prudence will pay Jane a visit & find herself courted by a fatuous young widower. Prudence at twenty-nine has achieved nothing in life but a dull research job in London & a string of dud affairs; Jane now in her forties was Prudences tutor at Oxford. Jane cheerfully concedes that she is an incompetent housewife but she hopes that the move to a rural parish may transform her into a Trollopean vicars wife as well as a crafty matchmaker. There are many comic complications here as Jane learns that matchmaking has as many pitfalls as does housewifery The New Yorker