It was John Betjeman who called Barbara Pym "a splendidly humorous writer". The sparkling elegance of her prose has attracted plaudits from other writers and critics for its wit, subtlety, delicate irony and refreshing unpretentiousness, while her exploration of social situations and keen observations of human emotions and foibles led to A L Rowse declaring her "the Jane Austen de nos jours".

Yet she was probably one of the most neglected writers of the 20th century. After a few early successes, her career suffered a 16-year slump as the 1960s ushered in a cultural revolution in which her delicate comedy had no part.

It was not until her final years in Oxfordshire that she enjoyed a renaissance, which was tragically cut short by her untimely death from breast cancer in 1980.

She was born Barbara Mary Crampton Pym on June 2, 1913, in Oswestry, Shropshire, the elder daughter of Frederic and Irena Pym.

Her mother was assistant organist at the local parish church, and the constant stream of vicars and curates who paraded through young Barbara's life would later provide the inspiration for some of her most endearing characters.

She discovered her passion for reading and writing at boarding school, and at the age of 16 wrote her first novel, Young Men in Fancy Dress, inspired by Aldous Huxley's Chrome Yellow. The work has never been published, but now rests in the Pym Archives at the Bodleian Library, along with many of her other manuscripts and notebooks.

In 1931, Barbara came up to Oxford to study English Literature at St Hilda's, graduating with a second class degree in 1934. Her books clearly reflect her undergraduate experiences, and her affection for Oxford shines through.

"Oxford is very lovely in midsummer," she writes at the beginning of Jane and Prudence, which opens with a student reunion, and proceeds to follow the finely-balanced relationship between the two eponymous heroines, who were once tutor and student respectively.

Crampton Hodnet, which was published posthumously in 1985, was Barbara's "North Oxford novel", and opens with this lyrical description: "It was a wet Sunday afternoon in North Oxford at the beginning of October. The laurel bushes which bordered the path leading to Leamington Lodge, Banbury Road, were dripping with rain . . . the house had been built in the sixties of the last century, of yellowish brick, with a gabled roof and narrow Gothic windows set in frames of ornamental stonework."

Later, her humour bursts through in a passage that must surely be indulging one of her student whims: "Francis Cleveland, hunched in his grey overcoat, walked gloomily into the Bodleian quadrangle and up the stairs into Duke Humfrey's library . . . TALK LITTLE AND TREAD LIGHTLY said the notice. Mr Cleveland trod as heavily as he could and would certainly have talked much, had he seen anyone to talk to."

Unlike many writers who place their novels firmly in a recognisable setting, Pym rarely indulges in lengthy descriptions. But Crampton Hodnet is liberally peppered with references to places in and around Oxford, from Magdalen Bridge to Botley Road, almost as though the mere mention of their names gave her pleasure. More importantly, she captures the spirit of Oxford and the University, bringing them vividly to life.

Her literary career was launched in 1950, when Jonathan Cape published Some Tame Gazelle, a novel she had written before the war and submitted to several publishers without success. Five more novels followed in rapid succession: Excellent Women (1952); Jane and Prudence (1953); Less than Angels (1955); A Glass of Blessings (1958) and No Fond Return of Love (1961).

Then followed a 16-year wilderness, during which her novels were repeatedly rejected as being old-fashioned. "I get moments of gloom and pessimism when it seems as if nobody could ever like my kind of writing again," she wrote in 1970.

To compound her despair, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1971, and underwent a mastectomy. Three years later, she suffered a minor stroke. It was at this point that she came to live with her younger sister, Hilary, at Barn Cottage, Finstock.

The change of scene seemed to be just what she needed. She threw herself enthusiastically into village life, involving herself in the Finstock Festival and becoming a member of the local PCC.

More importantly, she returned to her writing with renewed vigour. In 1976, she completed Quartet in Autumn, a novel inspired by her recent retirement. After two initial rejections, it was accepted for publication in 1977 by Macmillan, and nominated for the Booker Prize, effectively re-launching her career. The same year, she was twice nominated (by Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil) in the Times Literary Supplement as "the most underrated novelist of the century".

The following year, Macmillan published The Sweet Dove Died, a novel that had been repeatedly rejected during the 1960s. Soon she was enjoying international recognition, as both new novels attracted critical acclaim. Macmillan republished all of her novels, while E.P. Dutton did the same in America, and her books were translated into a number of foreign languages.

Tragically, Barbara's cancer returned while she was working on her final novel, A Few Green Leaves, which she finished hastily before she died at Michael Sobell House in Oxford on January 11, 1980. The novel was published soon after her death, followed by a number of other, earlier novels: An Unsuitable Attachment (1982); Crampton Hodnet (1986); An Academic Question (1986); Very Private Eye: An Autobiography in Diaries, Letters (1984) and Civil to Strangers (1988).

Barbara was buried at Finstock Church, to be joined by her sister, Hilary, in 2004. Both women were popular in the village, and the unveiling of the blue plaque, on September 1 this year, was more than just a memorial to an exceptional novelist; it was a lasting tribute to a lady that many villagers still remember with affection.

For more information about Barbara Pym, contact the Barbara Pym Society, St Hilda's College, Oxford OX4 1DY; tel. 01865 276828.