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The Corner That Held Them

By Sylvia Townsend Warner
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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3.94 goodreads logo

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner richly details the life and tribulations within a medieval English convent over several decades. The narrative explores the daily struggles, ambitions, and spiritual dilemmas of its nuns and the impact of historical events on their secluded world. It's a vivid tapestry of medieval life, captured through the lens of the convent's close-knit yet complex community.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're fascinated by richly detailed historical settings and enjoy exploring the intricacies of monastic life in medieval England. The narrative offers a tapestry of daily events and vividly-drawn characters, bringing their struggles and occasional triumphs to life with humour and authenticity.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A masterpiece of historical fiction, The Corner That Held Them depicts the lives of medieval nuns amid the turmoil of rebellion and the Black Death.

Sylvia Townsend Warner's portrayal of a fourteenth-century nunnery is widely considered to be one of the greatest historical novels of all time. An often hilarious ode to community living, it is also a poignant, delicate exploration of spirituality's relationship to the material world.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Corner That Held Them is a classic work of historical fiction that resonates deeply with readers, praised for its austere yet luminous narrative and high comedic elements. Its depiction of life in a medieval convent is considered magnificent and spellbinding, demanding a reread upon completion.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241454817

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 January 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 258g

Pages: 352

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction General Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Series: Penguin Modern Classics Sylvia Townsend Warner

About the Author

Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) grew up in rural Devonshire before moving to London and writing her debut novel, Lolly Willowes (1926). With her partner Valentine Ackland, she was active in the Communist Party and served in the Red Cross during the Spanish Civil War. Her novels include Mr Fortune's Maggot, The True Heart, Summer Will Show, After the Death of Don Juan, The Corner That Held Them and The Flint Anchor.

Also by Sylvia Townsend Warner

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    The True Heart
    The True Heart is a love story set in Victorian England by one of the most original writers of the twentieth century. Leaving her orphanage at sixteen, Sukey Bond finds employment as a servant in the remote New Easter Farm, deep within the Essex Marshes. There she falls in love with simple, gentle Eric, the son of the rector's wife....
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    Summer Will Show
    Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner is an extraordinary re-imagining of historical fiction. The novel explores the tale of a Victorian woman's love for her husband's mistress. The story follows a young English aristocrat who, cut adrift by tragedy, is led by her husband's former mistress deep into the fervour, chaos, and bloodshed of the French revolution. Summer Will...
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    The Flint Anchor
    A brilliant exploration of power and dysfunction in Victorian England Pillar of society and stern upholder of Victorian values, god-fearing Norfolk merchant John Barnard presides over a large and largely unhappy family. This is their story - his brandy-swilling wife, their hapless offspring and their changing fortunes - over the decades. Sylvia Townsend Warner's last novel, The Flint Anchor gloriously...
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    Lolly Willowes
    Introducing Little Clothbound Classics β€” irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But...
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  • Winter in the Air
    One of our finest writers. - Neil Gaiman One of the most shamefully under-read great British authors of the past 100 years. - Sarah Waters Diminutive masterpieces ... Hand yourself over to be enchanted. - Guardian Extraordinary, lucid wildness. - Helen MacDonald Glinting perfection - The Times Decades after her divorce, a lady returns to the village of her tumultuous...
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  • Lolly Willowes
    Considered an early feminist classic, Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes; Or The Loving Huntsman is a fantastical comedy about a middle-aged witch and her search for peace that was selected as the first ever Book of the Month upon publication in 1926. When her father died, Laura Willowes went to live in London with her elder brother and his family....
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    After the Death of Don Juan
    A brilliant hybrid of myth, history and fantasy from Sylvia Townsend Warner, one of the twentieth century's great novelists. Don Juan, that notorious libertine, has disappeared. Has he been dragged down to hell by demons, as rumoured - or has he escaped? Dona Ana, the woman he tried to seduce, will stop at nothing to discover the truth. Set in...
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    Mr Fortune's Maggot
    One of Sylvia Townsend Warner's best-loved novelsβ€”a droll and deeply affecting story of love and disillusionment on a remote tropical island. After three years on the remote tropical island of Fanua, Timothy Fortune, a missionary from London, has made little headway. The islanders show very little interest in Christianity and he has only a single convertβ€”a boy, Lueli. As Mr...
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