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I am Catholic by religious upbringing and catholic in my reading habits. I love to read and read almost everything, but one category of books that I have never really enjoyed are non fiction inspirational books (the Bible excepted). However, like a lot of people I do sometimes feel the need to recharge the spiritual batteries every so often and one book that is guaranteed to do the job for me is Rumer Godden’s marvelous novel about life in a convent, In This House of Brede.
Rumer Godden died in 1998. She wrote novels for adults and children and I have read several of them with great pleasure, but this one is my favorite of hers’ and one book that I not only love – I cherish.
Philippa Talbott has it all. She is a widow with a responsible and well-paying job. She has the respect of her collegues, a beautiful home, good friends and a man who cares for her deeply. So all her friends are shocked when at the age of 45, Philippa gives up her whole life and career to become a cloistered Benedictine nun in the abbey of Brede in Sussex.
In This House of Brede follows Philippa through her first years in the abbey and not only her, but many of the other nuns who live there as well. There are so many wonderful secondary characters I could not even begin to list them all, but a few come to mind. Dame Agnes – fiercely intelligent and not inclined to suffer fools gladly. Dame Maura – a brilliant musician and a woman whose heart is almost too kind. Dame Veronica – a talented poet, but a woman who came into the convent living a lie. Dame Cecily – a woman of extraordinary beauty who is torn between her very real desire to be a nun and her feelings for Larry Talbot, who loves her. And Dame Catherine the abbess – a woman who was thrust into a position of leadership who is outwardly confident – never letting anyone know how unsure she is.
This book treats the life of a convent’s inhabitants with love and sympathy. The nuns are not at all plaster saints, nor are they twisted and frustrated individuals. They are flesh and blood women who are, as Phillipa puts it – not in the world, but are still very much of it.
The descriptions of Brede Abbey are so very beautiful and vivid that Brede almost becomes a major character itself. There is a short passage where Godden describes the cycle of the natural year intertwined with the liturgical year in Brede Abbey that is as lovely a piece of writing as I have ever read.
I have read In This House of Brede over a dozen times. When ever I feel sagging and depressed, I take it out and read some favorite passages. Soon I am feeling much better about myself and the world about me – a feeling that all the Chicken Soup books in the world can not give me.
This book is for everybody. You do not have to be Catholic, you do not even have to be religious to appreciate the beautiful story and the writing of In This House of Brede. The nuns of Brede are a cross-section of humanity with all their faults and failures – dreams and aspirations, and their faith and hope. I truly love and cherish this wonderful novel.
Grade: A
Book Type: Inspirational Fiction
Sensuality: N/A
Review Date: 27/12/98
Publication Date: 2005
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.