“Published posthumously, this is one of Pym's novels written during her "silent" spell when publishers weren't interested in her writing. Although she had previously had seven successful novels, conventional wisdom was that her books were too "old fashioned."
This book does seem different from her others, but the tone is still distinctly Pym. Caroline Grimstone is the bored wife of a university professor. In her quest to find something useful to do, she begins reading to an elderly missionary and discovers that some of his papers are of academic interest to her husband. This one is bittersweet, but still very readable.”