A Careless Widow and Other Stories

Characterizing the stories as "quiet and deceptively simple," New York Times critic Lorrie Moore writes:

His is a very English fiction of irony arrayed, hypocrisy exposed, eccentricity embraced. He captures the frustration and strain beneath the moral order of the average citizen, and he is nothing if not funny. Yet his humor never stiffens or distorts. His prose is always limpid...^[6]

Moore adds "Sir Victor's is a literature of deep humanity—a mature artist's extension of affection into unexpected corners, a lover's unflagging interest in life."^[1]

• Bayley, John. 1997. In Memoriam: V. S. Pritchett in V. S. Pritchett: The Pritchett Century. The Modern Library, New York. pp. xiii-xxi ISBN 0-679-60244-5
• Bayley, John. 1997. In Memoriam: V. S. Pritchett. London Review of Books, April 24, 1997, volume 19 No.8 In Memoriam: V.S. Pritchett
• Moore, Lorrie. 1989. ORDINARY LIFE ALWAYS WENT TOO FAR. New York Times, October 22, 1989. ORDINARY LIFE ALWAYS WENT TOO FAR Accessed October 10, 2024.
• Pritchett, V. S.. 1989. A Careless Widow and Other Stories. Random House, New York. ISBN 978-0394576121
• Stinson, John J. 1992. V. S. Pritchett: A Study of the Short Fiction. Twayne Publishers, New York. Gordon Weaver, General Editor. ISBN 0-8057-8341-5
• Treglown, Jeremy. 2004. V. S. Pritchett: A Working Life. Pimlico Random House, London. ISBN 0-7126-9725-X (paperback).