Advent calendar 18th December – Most underrated book or author

This is a tricky one but an author that often seems to slip under the radar is Barbara Pym. She has a small but passionate army of fans (including the very lovely Alexander McCall Smith) and every so often the media laud her writing but somehow she’s not as well known as she should be. Maybe it’s because she’s a mid-20th century woman writer; maybe it’s because she’s passed away so no new novels are forthcoming and backlist is often neglected by publishers in favour of the shiny new thing; maybe it’s because her writing is often concerned with the domestic and marriage and so she’s dismissed as having nothing important to say… Whatever the reason, I love her writing. Go try it out…