The Sweet Dove Died

Originally published in 1978, The Sweet Dove Died is a darkly comic novel about the sometimes fickle nature of love and relationships, from the author of Quartet in Autumn, Barbara Pym. He is going to kiss me, Leonora thought in sudden panic, pray heaven no more than that... One couldn't lose one's dignity, of course, Leonora told herself, for after all one wasn't exactly a young girl. Surely freedom from this sort of thing was among the compensations of advancing age and the sad decay of one's beauty; one really ought not to be having to fend people off any more. A chance encounter over a Victorian flower book brings together Humphrey, a widowed antiques dealer, his handsome nephew James, and the lovely but cold Leonora. Although she is considerably older, Leonora develops a fondness for James all the while knowing Humphrey has feelings for her. Determined to keep James in her thrall, Leonora must contend with the bookish Phoebe. Then Ned, a young American, appears on the scene. A work of comic genius about the sometimes fickle nature of love and relationships, The Sweet Dove Died is one of Barbara Pym's finest.