Dear Great Book Guru, I am very excited about an upcoming event here in Sea Cliff at St. Luke’s Community Hall - “A Dinner and Play!” Apparently, the play is based on a Barbara Pym novel. Do you know anything about the novel? Interested in Pym....................................................... Dear Interested in Pym, Barbara Pym’s 1930’s novel CRAMPTON HODNET has been adapted by Dan DiPietro, directed by Fred Stroppel, and will be performed with over twenty Sea Cliff folks taking part. Pym has written twelve books - any of which I would highly recommend - but I must admit this is one of my favorites. Set in Oxford with its ancient colleges and medieval rituals and written decades ago, the novel has a surprisingly modern tone. It is a very funny take on village life - a village peopled by quirky characters including pretentious professors, young romantics, philandering spouses, and interfering relatives. There are two intersecting plot lines: the middle-aged Francis Cleveland’s dalliance and the lonely but very witty Jessie Morrow’s passionless affair with Stephen Latimer - a young curate (he forgets her name as he is proposing to her). Crampton Hodnet is the name of a fictional village invented by Latimer to cover for an early misadventure. Tangled romances, misread moments, and furtive escapades all make for a great read and a hilarious evening of theater. Highly recommended!