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The Priory
The setting for this, the third novel by Dorothy Whipple Persephone have published, is Saunby Priory, a large house somewhere in England which has seen better times. We are shown the two Marwood girls, who are nearly grown-up, their father, the widower Major Marwood, and their aunt; then, as soon as their lives have been described, the Major proposes marriage to a woman much younger than himself - and many changes begin.
536 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1939
About the author
Dorothy Whipple
23 books281 followersBorn in 1893, DOROTHY WHIPPLE (nee Stirrup) had an intensely happy childhood in Blackburn as part of the large family of a local architect. Her close friend George Owen having been killed in the first week of the war, for three years she worked as secretary to Henry Whipple, an educational administrator who was a widower twenty-four years her senior and whom she married in 1917. Their life was mostly spent in Nottingham; here she wrote Young Anne (1927), the first of nine extremely successful novels which included Greenbanks (1932) and The Priory (1939). Almost all her books were Book Society Choices or Recommendations and two of them, They Knew Mr Knight (1934) and They were Sisters (1943), were made into films. She also wrote short stories and two volumes of memoirs. Someone at a Distance (1953) was her last novel. Returning in her last years to Blackburn, Dorothy Whipple died there in 1966.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews
August 14, 2024
This is a beautifully written novel, though I wish it had focussed a little more on the working-class servants who worked in the house and a little less on the pompous fools who ran it.
May 3, 2021
I liked this a lot. I read it over the course of 24 hours because I kept on being drawn to it like a moth to a flame. What happened to Christie? What happened to Nicholas? Etc. etc. etc.
Something about Dorothy Whipple’s writing…or how long her chapters are…or the final sentence of a chapter. I can’t put the damn book down. And this was 528 pages (Persephone Books). And normally I boo-hoo and cry about books of such a length.
I can only predict that I will be like other GR reviewers who announce they have finished the last Whipple book and they are forlorn because they know there will be no more Whipple. 🙁
Notes:
• I learned from the Afterword written by David Conville (2002) that the setting of ‘The Priory’ and a number of the characters in the book were based somewhat/loosely on people who Dorothy Whipple had met in her life.
• There will be no more Whipple, but I have through GR friends become aware that there are a number of other authors/books of this type, so that is some solace to me. 😊 Here are some of the sites that I like that alert me to such writers (and I know there are others…maybe GR friends can add to this list):
• http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/
• https://reading19001950.wordpress.com/
• https://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/
• Whipple drives the point home that at least in the UK and no doubt in other countries that for some time period long ago (1940s and earlier…I don’t know how many centuries to go back) that women had a rough deal. At least in this novel and time period (1930s) girls were pulled out of school early or had inept governesses, and/or were sent to finishing school, and so when in their 20s had no skill set other than to get married and have babies and provide for the husband, who could be a good-for-nothing and/or a wife abuser, and then where was the woman to go with no skills to earn her own keep? I know I am making this terribly simplistic, but my point is that I think Whipple was trying to educate the reader about this.
Reviews (all very nice reviews)
• Very nice review…does not give away too much either!): https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/22...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
• At this site the reviewer gives 8 links to other reviewers who have something to say about Dorothy Whipple… https://hogglestock.com/2010/02/05/bo...
Something about Dorothy Whipple’s writing…or how long her chapters are…or the final sentence of a chapter. I can’t put the damn book down. And this was 528 pages (Persephone Books). And normally I boo-hoo and cry about books of such a length.
I can only predict that I will be like other GR reviewers who announce they have finished the last Whipple book and they are forlorn because they know there will be no more Whipple. 🙁
Notes:
• I learned from the Afterword written by David Conville (2002) that the setting of ‘The Priory’ and a number of the characters in the book were based somewhat/loosely on people who Dorothy Whipple had met in her life.
• There will be no more Whipple, but I have through GR friends become aware that there are a number of other authors/books of this type, so that is some solace to me. 😊 Here are some of the sites that I like that alert me to such writers (and I know there are others…maybe GR friends can add to this list):
• http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/
• https://reading19001950.wordpress.com/
• https://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/
• Whipple drives the point home that at least in the UK and no doubt in other countries that for some time period long ago (1940s and earlier…I don’t know how many centuries to go back) that women had a rough deal. At least in this novel and time period (1930s) girls were pulled out of school early or had inept governesses, and/or were sent to finishing school, and so when in their 20s had no skill set other than to get married and have babies and provide for the husband, who could be a good-for-nothing and/or a wife abuser, and then where was the woman to go with no skills to earn her own keep? I know I am making this terribly simplistic, but my point is that I think Whipple was trying to educate the reader about this.
Reviews (all very nice reviews)
• Very nice review…does not give away too much either!): https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/22...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
• At this site the reviewer gives 8 links to other reviewers who have something to say about Dorothy Whipple… https://hogglestock.com/2010/02/05/bo...
July 22, 2022
I never tire of singing Dorothy Whipple’s praises. This is my fourth book by her and all of them have left me feeling totally content! She writes the type of books that I want to hug close to my chest and just sigh.
In this book, we are taken to Saunby- the Priory. This huge estate is owned by Major Marwood. His sister, an artist and his daughters, Christine and Penelope, live with him. He remarries and joining them is Anthea. We learn immediately that he is a poor manager of the estate and money, and things are looking grim. This book is about this family and how they progress over time with each other and relationships they develop.
Whipple’s strength is the depiction of all the characters, whether it be the upper class or the downstairs staff, the servants.
Love and relationships are so complicated. Dorothy Whipple shows us in this book all that can go wrong.
“ Love is happy only when it is confident. When it is humble, it is full of pain and misgiving; there is hardly any happiness to be had out of it at all.”
This is also a reflection on people’s relationship to a place- Saunby- the emotional attachment to your past and the home you grew up in and its history.
“ It’s not the inside of the house, it’s Saunby itself and the West Front and the way it stands in that clear space with the lake beside it. It’s all that’s gone on there and what it stands for.”
I loved this book. If you haven’t read Dorothy Whipple yet and you love character driven novels, please read her. She is amazing!
Published: 1939
In this book, we are taken to Saunby- the Priory. This huge estate is owned by Major Marwood. His sister, an artist and his daughters, Christine and Penelope, live with him. He remarries and joining them is Anthea. We learn immediately that he is a poor manager of the estate and money, and things are looking grim. This book is about this family and how they progress over time with each other and relationships they develop.
Whipple’s strength is the depiction of all the characters, whether it be the upper class or the downstairs staff, the servants.
Love and relationships are so complicated. Dorothy Whipple shows us in this book all that can go wrong.
“ Love is happy only when it is confident. When it is humble, it is full of pain and misgiving; there is hardly any happiness to be had out of it at all.”
This is also a reflection on people’s relationship to a place- Saunby- the emotional attachment to your past and the home you grew up in and its history.
“ It’s not the inside of the house, it’s Saunby itself and the West Front and the way it stands in that clear space with the lake beside it. It’s all that’s gone on there and what it stands for.”
I loved this book. If you haven’t read Dorothy Whipple yet and you love character driven novels, please read her. She is amazing!
Published: 1939
June 21, 2012
This started out as a guest-room-bed-table read: You know, one of those old books that a friend who owns a cottage or a country house leaves out to decorate a room, mostly because the binding is pretty, or the title is funny, or just because the book is old and quaint-looking. And you may pick it up to look at it, but you don't necessarily expect it to be any good.
Well, this one was so good that I knew I'd have to find a copy of my own so that I could finish it. Happily, my hostess had a spare copy of more recent vintage, and she gave it to me as a gift.
So: Here's a 1939 novel from England, featuring faded aristocrats running out of money, a moldering manor house, penniless heiresses looking for love and/or financial stability, social climbers, and servants who, to the surprise of their employers, have lives of their own.
So, perhaps, think of this as The Cherry Orchard by way of Downton Abbey.
What delighted me, not having heard of the novel or the author before I started reading, was how truly first-rate the book was going to turn out to be. Whipple is, first off, simply an excellent writer, sentence by sentence. But what I was most taken with was her subtle and complex presentation of her characters: People who you think are well-meaning and put-upon and thus you're rooting for them to succeed turn out to have hidden reserves of cold selfishness; people who you think are simply selfish evolve past their adversities and become thoughtful and admirable. No one is quite who you think they are, and yet every character in the book is persuasively him- or herself throughout.
This one was really a lovely surprise.
Well, this one was so good that I knew I'd have to find a copy of my own so that I could finish it. Happily, my hostess had a spare copy of more recent vintage, and she gave it to me as a gift.
So: Here's a 1939 novel from England, featuring faded aristocrats running out of money, a moldering manor house, penniless heiresses looking for love and/or financial stability, social climbers, and servants who, to the surprise of their employers, have lives of their own.
So, perhaps, think of this as The Cherry Orchard by way of Downton Abbey.
What delighted me, not having heard of the novel or the author before I started reading, was how truly first-rate the book was going to turn out to be. Whipple is, first off, simply an excellent writer, sentence by sentence. But what I was most taken with was her subtle and complex presentation of her characters: People who you think are well-meaning and put-upon and thus you're rooting for them to succeed turn out to have hidden reserves of cold selfishness; people who you think are simply selfish evolve past their adversities and become thoughtful and admirable. No one is quite who you think they are, and yet every character in the book is persuasively him- or herself throughout.
This one was really a lovely surprise.
July 12, 2021
Read many years ago and reread now. Great escapism, Whipple's characters, family dynamics and storytelling are wonderful. I love her subtle storylines, her domestic settings and the way that her characters from either background have their good and bad points, their happiness and sadness, cleverness and stupidity. Although the story can seem in some places to be teaching us a lesson, Whipple does this from such a kind and well meaning viewpoint it doesn't seem preachy or annoying.
The new Persephone copy comes with a free bookmark that gives you a massive spoiler in the first sentence about what happens to two of the main characters 132 pages in. This was one of the few books I have ever bought new and the spoiler was really annoying.
Highly recommended, just don't look at the bookmark.
The new Persephone copy comes with a free bookmark that gives you a massive spoiler in the first sentence about what happens to two of the main characters 132 pages in. This was one of the few books I have ever bought new and the spoiler was really annoying.
Highly recommended, just don't look at the bookmark.
March 8, 2017
4.5/5 stars.
This book revolves around the priory of Saunby, placed somewhere in England, and I liked it a lot. Right from the beginning, it was so easy to get into the place and the lovely characters living in Saunby, and it was interesting to read about their developments since this novel takes place over the span of several years.
I also liked how the cast is so broad, so that the characters we follow in the last scenes are not all characters that were introduced in the beginning. However, it all makes sense and I got to care for all of the new characters as well.
This was one of those books that made me feel warm and cozy inside. The only fault I found with it was the ending in which Dorothy Whipple makes sure everything is perfect for everyone - I didn't buy that and felt like it made for a poor conclusion to an otherwise very interesting story about life, loss and growing up.
This book revolves around the priory of Saunby, placed somewhere in England, and I liked it a lot. Right from the beginning, it was so easy to get into the place and the lovely characters living in Saunby, and it was interesting to read about their developments since this novel takes place over the span of several years.
I also liked how the cast is so broad, so that the characters we follow in the last scenes are not all characters that were introduced in the beginning. However, it all makes sense and I got to care for all of the new characters as well.
This was one of those books that made me feel warm and cozy inside. The only fault I found with it was the ending in which Dorothy Whipple makes sure everything is perfect for everyone - I didn't buy that and felt like it made for a poor conclusion to an otherwise very interesting story about life, loss and growing up.
May 1, 2021
As always with Whipple, a very enjoyable book with wonderful characters. A bit on the long side though.
May 3, 2021
The story revolves around the residents of Saunby, a crumbling estate in the Midlands, being run into the ground by Major Marwood who has no idea of how to run the estate and is only willing to spend money on cricket. He lives with Aunt Victoria, who is an artist and paints "boldly and badly", and his 2 grown daughters, living still in the nursery and keeping themselves to themselves.
Major Marwood decides to marry Anthea, who is the catalyst for change at the Priory. Meek at first, she comes into her own as time goes on and we follow the trials and tribulations facing the family.
I loved the characterisation in this book and watching how the various characters grow, for better or for worse, as times change for them and war looms in the background.
Major Marwood decides to marry Anthea, who is the catalyst for change at the Priory. Meek at first, she comes into her own as time goes on and we follow the trials and tribulations facing the family.
I loved the characterisation in this book and watching how the various characters grow, for better or for worse, as times change for them and war looms in the background.
April 30, 2019
This was my first time reading Dorothy Whipple and I enjoyed it very much. The Priory of the title is Saunby Priory which became a residence after the dissolution. In our story it is inhabited by the Marwoods, who have lived there some generations, and it is their stories that we follow in the book. The owner, Major Marwood has little idea how to manage the property, and its earnings have been falling regularly. All he does is put off bills and economise, except when it comes to his own comforts and cricket, no expense being spared on the latter. In the Priory also live his two grown up daughters, Christine and Penelope, who continue to stay in the nursery since no one has bothered to bring them out (though they are part of social life in the village), and his spinster sister Victoria, an artist, who is in charge of the house, but simply lets it run itself. Life for them is far from ideal but each is comfortable and happy in their own way. Then the Major decides to remarry, and the diffident Anthea enters their realm. Soon after Christine finds love in Nicholas Ashwell, a cricketer from a wealthy family but whose father is far too controlling even if good intentioned. Marriages take place, babies are born, life for the Priory and its inhabitants changes far too quickly, as they and those that come into their lives have different ideas of marriage, love, family, and life itself. There are misunderstandings and tiffs, and as in real life some are resolved while others lead to different outcomes than one expects. When starting the book, I wondered if this would turn out to be a ‘feel good’/ ‘happily ever after’ kind of story, but while it was partly that, it largely very real, and the paths that their lives take, the choices they make, and indeed they themselves are that too. While the book largely concentrates on the personal stories of the characters, the year being 1939 (when it was published as well), the shadow of war looms large (especially in the second part). The book stops at the point where the threat seems to have been averted and the characters breathe a sigh of relief, but one can’t help thinking of what really happened, and how the plans they make and the hopes they have may never have come true. This was a very good read, which certainly kept me engrossed, but does leave one feeling a touch melancholy because of what did happen at that point in time. 4.5 stars.
March 26, 2020
What I admired most about this one, I think, was her command of the precise amount of self-knowledge each character had about themselves and just how far they were able to articulate their own emotions- in their own minds or to others. These two factors determined everything else about what happened to them, which then made, naturally, for a plot. She didn’t flesh out their personalities very much beyond this, but she didn’t really need to. This level of individuation on her part was already so much more insightful and honest than so many other authors manage to be, and it kept this flowing and as organic as an interwar domestic drama was ever going to be. I’ve always wondered a bit at the infantile wording I saw by both characters and real, actual people in this period of British writing when it came to their feelings. Victorians are grand and blustery about it, Georgians poetic, post-war at least wry and ironic. But the grown Edwardians, these childish nicknames and squealing uncomfortably at the depth of their own feeling. I felt as if Whipple was exploring this herself and working herself out of it, her characters growing more mature the closer they got to 1939. Christine grappling around in the dark to describe what she dislikes about the new world she encounters when she leaves home is wonderful. Sarah’s quiet explanation of how and why she deals with her husband, Anthea’s transformation from shy, put upon spinster to assertive (if selfish) practicality are all satisfying to watch. And there’s some wonderful feminism snuck in here between the cracks, too. Protests against the inadequacies of women’s education, women’s wages, a woman here who genuinely doesn’t want children because of a terror or childbirth and doesn’t budge from that- even some rather socialist gestures around the importance of community welfare. And somehow it’s all wrapped in earnest soapy melodrama of gothic mansions and adultery and affairs and grand gestures and peans to This England and it works. One point docked because, as always, Whipple pulled her punches at the end- as she regularly did, to provide the HEA everyone wanted and there are some failures of that precise character work to make that happen. But otherwise a fantastically absorbing read that I definitely recommend to while away a few dark evenings.
May 13, 2023
2023 reread: some new thoughts\
It had been 13 years since I first read this book, but even so I was surprised by how little I had remembered of it. Blame the reader, not the book. In another 13 years, I may well read it again because it’s an exceptionally emotionally satisfying book in the mid-century country house genre.
Whipple’s characterisation is superb in this book, but what really struck me on this rereading is the meaning of Saunby (The Priory) itself, not just for the Marwood family, but in a much larger sense. The character of Christine, the Major’s eldest daughter, is the family member who seems to have the strongest feeling for Saunby - not just its beauties, but also the role it has served within the community. The book ends, somewhat optimistically - but it makes sense in context of the date, 1939, it was written - with the idea of making Saunby a proper community again, and a haven for all of its inhabitants. Whipple depicts human selfishness in a variety of flavours in this book; I regret that she didn’t write a sequel in which the characters attempt to rub along in a wartime utopia!
A few favourite quotes:
“She saw for the first time that the history of Saunby was a sad one. It had been diverted from its purpose; it had been narrowed from a great purpose to a little one. It had been built for the service of God and the people; all people, but especially the poor.”
“It’s so beautiful,” said Christine. It soothes me to look at it. It reminds me that there are other things, enduring, great things that we keep forgetting. Doesn’t it you?”
“Oh, Saunby, she thought, you’ve spoilt me. I’m so used to breathing pure air I can’t breathe foul. I’m so used to beatify I can’t bear to look at ugliness. I’m so used to freedom I can’t bear to be tied.”
Review from 2010:
This is my second book of Whipple's -- who was a popular and best-selling English author during the middle of the 20th century. Persephone publishers has recently brought several of her books back into print, and I read one of them (Someone From a Distance) just before Christmas. In many ways, this book is similar to it; it is a domestic drama, within the confines of the English upper-middle classes. I know that some people find Whipple's work boring, and perhaps her style of realistic fiction is rather dated, but I like it. I think that she is extremely good at characterization - and that her writing often provides keen insights into human nature.
A few examples:
(of Victoria, the unmarried aunt who fancies herself an artist)
"Victoria was one of the hardy people who like rudeness to be met by rudeness. Then rudeness becomes a sport in which the players belabour each other to their mutual satisfaction."
Of Major Marwood: "Since he was very economical in everything that did not directly affect his own comfort, the household had to wait for light until he wanted light himself."
It takes place right before the outbreak of World War II, and describes a way of life that is already disappearing -- even as the book takes place. The Priory is a grand old house/estate whose farms have gradually been sold off and/or neglected. In its original incarnation, the priory has been inhabited by monks and has existed to serve the wider community. One of the central characters, Christine Marwood, is conscious of this lost "higher" purpose; and through her, Whipple shows how the aristocratic order will be toppled. The needs of the many will gradually supplant the needs of the few.
There are several storylines involving its inhabitants, and it does have an upstairs/downstairs aspect to it. The Marwood daughters, Penelope and Christine, have not been educated for anything but marriage -- and their dawning consciousness of this shortcoming is just one of the ways that Whipple explores an English way of life/custom even as it was changing.
It had been 13 years since I first read this book, but even so I was surprised by how little I had remembered of it. Blame the reader, not the book. In another 13 years, I may well read it again because it’s an exceptionally emotionally satisfying book in the mid-century country house genre.
Whipple’s characterisation is superb in this book, but what really struck me on this rereading is the meaning of Saunby (The Priory) itself, not just for the Marwood family, but in a much larger sense. The character of Christine, the Major’s eldest daughter, is the family member who seems to have the strongest feeling for Saunby - not just its beauties, but also the role it has served within the community. The book ends, somewhat optimistically - but it makes sense in context of the date, 1939, it was written - with the idea of making Saunby a proper community again, and a haven for all of its inhabitants. Whipple depicts human selfishness in a variety of flavours in this book; I regret that she didn’t write a sequel in which the characters attempt to rub along in a wartime utopia!
A few favourite quotes:
“She saw for the first time that the history of Saunby was a sad one. It had been diverted from its purpose; it had been narrowed from a great purpose to a little one. It had been built for the service of God and the people; all people, but especially the poor.”
“It’s so beautiful,” said Christine. It soothes me to look at it. It reminds me that there are other things, enduring, great things that we keep forgetting. Doesn’t it you?”
“Oh, Saunby, she thought, you’ve spoilt me. I’m so used to breathing pure air I can’t breathe foul. I’m so used to beatify I can’t bear to look at ugliness. I’m so used to freedom I can’t bear to be tied.”
Review from 2010:
This is my second book of Whipple's -- who was a popular and best-selling English author during the middle of the 20th century. Persephone publishers has recently brought several of her books back into print, and I read one of them (Someone From a Distance) just before Christmas. In many ways, this book is similar to it; it is a domestic drama, within the confines of the English upper-middle classes. I know that some people find Whipple's work boring, and perhaps her style of realistic fiction is rather dated, but I like it. I think that she is extremely good at characterization - and that her writing often provides keen insights into human nature.
A few examples:
(of Victoria, the unmarried aunt who fancies herself an artist)
"Victoria was one of the hardy people who like rudeness to be met by rudeness. Then rudeness becomes a sport in which the players belabour each other to their mutual satisfaction."
Of Major Marwood: "Since he was very economical in everything that did not directly affect his own comfort, the household had to wait for light until he wanted light himself."
It takes place right before the outbreak of World War II, and describes a way of life that is already disappearing -- even as the book takes place. The Priory is a grand old house/estate whose farms have gradually been sold off and/or neglected. In its original incarnation, the priory has been inhabited by monks and has existed to serve the wider community. One of the central characters, Christine Marwood, is conscious of this lost "higher" purpose; and through her, Whipple shows how the aristocratic order will be toppled. The needs of the many will gradually supplant the needs of the few.
There are several storylines involving its inhabitants, and it does have an upstairs/downstairs aspect to it. The Marwood daughters, Penelope and Christine, have not been educated for anything but marriage -- and their dawning consciousness of this shortcoming is just one of the ways that Whipple explores an English way of life/custom even as it was changing.
Read
January 28, 2009I have only just started this, but every page offers another small reason to like Dorothy Whipple's writing. Take this: 'She painted in oils. Not mildly as befitted a maiden lady of fifty-three years, but boldly and badly.'
April 8, 2021
What to say! This read was absolutely delightful for me to experience. Somehow without any planning, I'm meeting 3 or 4 books in a row from the first 1/2 of the last century. Cognitively and prose flow delicious. And they are both fiction and non-fiction.
First, they all seem to be chronological. And like this one the characters are exactly WHO they are. Individuals. Not stereotyped by group or generic categories. Class position of economics too, it seems extremely secondary. Almost none of the characters are either considering themselves victims, nor despite wars, poverty, lack of choices etc. doing the inside to outside blame games. Nor is their language foul, despite some of their dispositions being rather nil or mean. And in 90% too manners matter and communication is conducted between people with manners of address and tone observed. It makes for some realistic and terrific story telling, IMHO.
These are ordinary people in the years of the 1930's in England. The Priory and homestead is not location specified. But it seems like a 3 or 4 hour drive from London. That at least. We have aspects of 2 or 3 or 4 different social classes. And the people of the homestead place just about cover all of them.
Whipple is terrific at putting us within the minds of the stay at homes and who or what matters to each individual. That was absolutely 5 complete stars.
Up until the 80% completion of the book I would have given it a 5 star rating. To me it lost somewhat the reality and gravitas of emotional depth in its last 50 to 80 pages. A happy ending is one thing. But tying all of these 9 to 12 peoples' fates all up together in one sufficient and positive to being in the black and money happy for the whole picture future? Not something that would be practical and substantially not title probable or possible. Not with the Major and his mindset of cognition. No one is going to stop being themselves. Especially Thompson's wife.
Well, it was a thrill to read. Like a breath of fresh air. I'll be reading another of hers in just a short while. And hopefully all over time. Some of them are difficult to locate. This work reminds me HIGHLY of a Norah Lofts house series book. But yet with the trilogy form all in one hard cover. But I must admit that Lofts is my all time favorite for a certain feel of place identity connection over centuries. And her outcomes are NEVER as hunky-dory in eventual "eyes" as Whipple here. Not at all. But her gentle language and subtle yet sublime telling of personal enthusiasms are nearly identical. LOVE that aspect which is most absent from moderns of this 21st century and the last parts of the 1900's. Pessimism and nihilism of both spirits and theories now reign continually. Individuals mere animal cored self baggage loaded ciphers of anger and ire for the most part. And their individual depths merely shallow puddles.
I do recommend this read. It is overlong and the first 2/3rds is nearly 5 star perfect. Yes, I do remember exact sequences around me with ordinary people in these various roles here myself. Most of them very similar to my parents and aunts generation. It truly was like that. Gender roles to work focus to hobby manias for any extra time. Not only in England. Quite like this book and very different from the present.
First, they all seem to be chronological. And like this one the characters are exactly WHO they are. Individuals. Not stereotyped by group or generic categories. Class position of economics too, it seems extremely secondary. Almost none of the characters are either considering themselves victims, nor despite wars, poverty, lack of choices etc. doing the inside to outside blame games. Nor is their language foul, despite some of their dispositions being rather nil or mean. And in 90% too manners matter and communication is conducted between people with manners of address and tone observed. It makes for some realistic and terrific story telling, IMHO.
These are ordinary people in the years of the 1930's in England. The Priory and homestead is not location specified. But it seems like a 3 or 4 hour drive from London. That at least. We have aspects of 2 or 3 or 4 different social classes. And the people of the homestead place just about cover all of them.
Whipple is terrific at putting us within the minds of the stay at homes and who or what matters to each individual. That was absolutely 5 complete stars.
Up until the 80% completion of the book I would have given it a 5 star rating. To me it lost somewhat the reality and gravitas of emotional depth in its last 50 to 80 pages. A happy ending is one thing. But tying all of these 9 to 12 peoples' fates all up together in one sufficient and positive to being in the black and money happy for the whole picture future? Not something that would be practical and substantially not title probable or possible. Not with the Major and his mindset of cognition. No one is going to stop being themselves. Especially Thompson's wife.
Well, it was a thrill to read. Like a breath of fresh air. I'll be reading another of hers in just a short while. And hopefully all over time. Some of them are difficult to locate. This work reminds me HIGHLY of a Norah Lofts house series book. But yet with the trilogy form all in one hard cover. But I must admit that Lofts is my all time favorite for a certain feel of place identity connection over centuries. And her outcomes are NEVER as hunky-dory in eventual "eyes" as Whipple here. Not at all. But her gentle language and subtle yet sublime telling of personal enthusiasms are nearly identical. LOVE that aspect which is most absent from moderns of this 21st century and the last parts of the 1900's. Pessimism and nihilism of both spirits and theories now reign continually. Individuals mere animal cored self baggage loaded ciphers of anger and ire for the most part. And their individual depths merely shallow puddles.
I do recommend this read. It is overlong and the first 2/3rds is nearly 5 star perfect. Yes, I do remember exact sequences around me with ordinary people in these various roles here myself. Most of them very similar to my parents and aunts generation. It truly was like that. Gender roles to work focus to hobby manias for any extra time. Not only in England. Quite like this book and very different from the present.
February 26, 2023
When you are happy, you can be alone. When you are unhappy, you need other people.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I opened this book. It was the premise of two young women living at home when their father decides to remarry and their lives are upended which drew me to this book.
I had assumed that I would be picking up a book reminiscent of Angela Thirkell when in reality it read more like a Thomas Hardy for large portions of the book.
Love is only happy when it is confident. When it is humble, it is full of pain and misgiving; there is hardly any happiness to be had out of it at all.
I've never read a book quite like this in terms of characters and their motivations. I really couldn't predict what they would feel or do next. At times, I felt myself rooting for them, or at least pitying them, and then prompting rejecting that I had ever rooted for them in the first place.
This book touched upon so many themes: the importance of having a home (so much so that the priory became a character), infatuation, love in all of its stages, sisterhood, family, friendship, and loyalty.
I'm not sure whether I liked this book as a whole because it had too much pathos for my taste but I will remember this book and I will remember its characters and their struggles and triumphs.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I opened this book. It was the premise of two young women living at home when their father decides to remarry and their lives are upended which drew me to this book.
I had assumed that I would be picking up a book reminiscent of Angela Thirkell when in reality it read more like a Thomas Hardy for large portions of the book.
Love is only happy when it is confident. When it is humble, it is full of pain and misgiving; there is hardly any happiness to be had out of it at all.
I've never read a book quite like this in terms of characters and their motivations. I really couldn't predict what they would feel or do next. At times, I felt myself rooting for them, or at least pitying them, and then prompting rejecting that I had ever rooted for them in the first place.
This book touched upon so many themes: the importance of having a home (so much so that the priory became a character), infatuation, love in all of its stages, sisterhood, family, friendship, and loyalty.
I'm not sure whether I liked this book as a whole because it had too much pathos for my taste but I will remember this book and I will remember its characters and their struggles and triumphs.
January 2, 2016
With every Dorothy Whipple book I read, I see more why Persephone Books are so fond of her. The Priory is a seemingly simple story of a house and of the family who live in it. As it opens, Major Marwood has decided that he must marry again, as his spinster sister Victoria and his two daughters, Penelope and Christine, simply aren't interested in running the house or in organizing the cricket games and weekends which are the delight of his life, even though they use up scarce money at an alarming rate. Whipple also includes the house's servants in her story, in a love triangle among the Major's right-hand man Thompson and two of the maids, sharp Bertha and pretty Bessy.
With the introduction of the Major's new wife, earnest, graceless Anthea, things start to change at the Priory, in ways its inhabitants never imagined, and everyone must come to terms with life in a changing, modern world. The ending jars a little, because it's full of misplaced hope for a war the characters think has been averted (World War II, in reality soon to start), but the rest of the book is beautifully understated, quietly absorbing, and engaged with examining the role of women, as all of Whipple's books are.
With the introduction of the Major's new wife, earnest, graceless Anthea, things start to change at the Priory, in ways its inhabitants never imagined, and everyone must come to terms with life in a changing, modern world. The ending jars a little, because it's full of misplaced hope for a war the characters think has been averted (World War II, in reality soon to start), but the rest of the book is beautifully understated, quietly absorbing, and engaged with examining the role of women, as all of Whipple's books are.
September 4, 2021
Love Dorothy Whipple!
June 9, 2019
Last summer I read my first Dorothy Whipple, Someone at Distance (1953), a thoroughly compelling novel on the systematic destruction of a marriage – a timeless theme rendered with real insight and attention to detail. This year I’m returning to Whipple with one of her earlier novels, The Priory (1939), in a post for Jessie’s Perspehone event (running from 31st May to 9th June).
The Priory is something of an Upstairs-Downstairs story, revolving around the residents of Saunby, a crumbling old estate in the middle of England in the years leading up to the Second World War. The estate is home to the Marwood family: Major Marwood, a widower; his daughters, Christine (aged twenty) and Penelope (nineteen); and the Major’s unmarried sister, the somewhat eccentric Victoria. Also present in the house are various servants, most notably the ineffectual cook, Mrs Nall, the mismatched maids, Bertha and Bessy, and Major Marwood’s trusty right-hand man, Thompson.
To read my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
The Priory is something of an Upstairs-Downstairs story, revolving around the residents of Saunby, a crumbling old estate in the middle of England in the years leading up to the Second World War. The estate is home to the Marwood family: Major Marwood, a widower; his daughters, Christine (aged twenty) and Penelope (nineteen); and the Major’s unmarried sister, the somewhat eccentric Victoria. Also present in the house are various servants, most notably the ineffectual cook, Mrs Nall, the mismatched maids, Bertha and Bessy, and Major Marwood’s trusty right-hand man, Thompson.
To read my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
March 23, 2024
The Priory centres around a once-grand English stately home in the interwar years, and the lives of the family who live there and some of their servants. This is the first Dorothy Whipple that I've read, and I found this is a book to sink into: part comedy of manners, part low-key melodrama. While some aspects of the book feel a little dated from a 2020s perspective, Whipple showed a deft touch with creating rounded characters and having them respond believably to the changes that buffet them. I particularly liked her keen awareness of how hemmed in a woman's choices were in this time. The ending is perhaps a little pat, and there's no way Whipple could have known what changes a matter of months would bring to the political landscape of Europe, but I still enjoyed this and will look out for more of her work.
January 12, 2018
The Priory is a book that GoodReads kept recommending to me and which I kept ignoring.
Well, GoodReads, you win. I read it. I liked it.
The Priory is about a family, consisting of a widower father and his two 19/20-year-old daughters. Over the course of the book everyone decides to get married. And then everyone has problems. Some of them are quite serious.
Normally, I don't like a book where people's personal lives get off track and they fail to communicate or make good decisions. In the end, things are bound to be either sad or else unrealistically resolved for a happy-ever-after.
BUT, in this book, just about everyone gets redemption. They genuinely learn from their mistakes. By the end of the book, I believe in their ability to do better and be happier in the future.
Furthermore, by the end of the book, even the characters that I thought were unsympathetic had been ever so slightly altered in aspect. It is a skillful author that can convey to you that even difficult people can be kind when they don't feel threatened, that most people are not horrid all the time, and that it doesn't do to put people in a box and never see them as anything other than what you think they are.
Note: It's a surprisingly PG read for the era it was written in... there's some extramarital stuff. As I said, mistakes are made.
Well, GoodReads, you win. I read it. I liked it.
The Priory is about a family, consisting of a widower father and his two 19/20-year-old daughters. Over the course of the book everyone decides to get married. And then everyone has problems. Some of them are quite serious.
Normally, I don't like a book where people's personal lives get off track and they fail to communicate or make good decisions. In the end, things are bound to be either sad or else unrealistically resolved for a happy-ever-after.
BUT, in this book, just about everyone gets redemption. They genuinely learn from their mistakes. By the end of the book, I believe in their ability to do better and be happier in the future.
Furthermore, by the end of the book, even the characters that I thought were unsympathetic had been ever so slightly altered in aspect. It is a skillful author that can convey to you that even difficult people can be kind when they don't feel threatened, that most people are not horrid all the time, and that it doesn't do to put people in a box and never see them as anything other than what you think they are.
Note: It's a surprisingly PG read for the era it was written in... there's some extramarital stuff. As I said, mistakes are made.
Read
February 13, 2023This is the third Dorothy Whipple novel I've read and as with the previous two, turning over the first page is like touching a portkey. I just can't let go till I'm hurtled to the final page.
The Priory is very Downton Abbey-esque. So much of its action rests on the way the characters, both upstairs and downstairs, alienate themselves from or attempt to re-establish ties with Saunby Priory and one other.
The characters are, as usual, extremely well done. The way they ambitiously hope and plan or sulk and self-sabotage is true to life. It's interesting reading this soon after East of Eden where Steinbeck has several archetypal characters who are wholly wise or upright or evil. Every character in this novel struggles between what is convenient, pleasurable, flattering, noble, or self-sacrificing. And then Dorothy Whipple makes her characters feel the full force of their actions.
The Priory is very Downton Abbey-esque. So much of its action rests on the way the characters, both upstairs and downstairs, alienate themselves from or attempt to re-establish ties with Saunby Priory and one other.
The characters are, as usual, extremely well done. The way they ambitiously hope and plan or sulk and self-sabotage is true to life. It's interesting reading this soon after East of Eden where Steinbeck has several archetypal characters who are wholly wise or upright or evil. Every character in this novel struggles between what is convenient, pleasurable, flattering, noble, or self-sacrificing. And then Dorothy Whipple makes her characters feel the full force of their actions.
June 12, 2009
I was fascinated by this late 1930's novel. It is an old-fashioned story in the very best sense---perhaps, most like Anthony Trollope but with an early 20th Century sensibility. The book focuses on a family of landed gentry who are challenged by the financial ruin brought on by pride, incompetance and irresponsibility.
This book most definitely won't appeal to everyone: for most of the 500 pp. the "events" are all very small--the drama is the interior life of the characters. The Priory contains the most selfish, self-centered, narrow-minded group of people one could ever expect to encounter. How they sort out their small lives evolved into a fascinating read for me.
I keep gravitating to the novels of the 20's, 30's and 40's because I enjoy reading about women's preparedness to face the world (or not). This book paints a very dramatic picture of the challenges uneducated women face, as well as their efforts to be self-sufficient. It won't surprise you to hear that character and determination win out.
This book most definitely won't appeal to everyone: for most of the 500 pp. the "events" are all very small--the drama is the interior life of the characters. The Priory contains the most selfish, self-centered, narrow-minded group of people one could ever expect to encounter. How they sort out their small lives evolved into a fascinating read for me.
I keep gravitating to the novels of the 20's, 30's and 40's because I enjoy reading about women's preparedness to face the world (or not). This book paints a very dramatic picture of the challenges uneducated women face, as well as their efforts to be self-sufficient. It won't surprise you to hear that character and determination win out.
February 15, 2022
(3.5) A cosy between-the-wars story, pleasant to read even though some awful things happen, or nearly happen. Like in Downton Abbey and the Cazalet Chronicles (this reminded me a lot of The Light Years, as well as of Hardy and Trollope), there’s an upstairs/downstairs setup that’s appealing. To start with, Whipple alternates between the servants and the masters of Saunby Priory manor house. I was disappointed when, for reasons to do with the plot, the servants stop being such major characters.
Major Francis Marwood, a widower, bumbles along at Saunby, his half-feral teenage daughters still living in the nursery and his sister the useless housekeeper; hosting regular cricket tournaments feeds his sport obsession. Then he remarries Anthea, who, in her later thirties, would at that time have been considered a spinster lucky to find a man (and, before long, have twins).
It was interesting to watch how my sympathies shifted: at first I felt sorry for Anthea because of how the rest of the family shuts her out, but as she becomes more entitled and insular, taking over the finances so she can hire a full-time baby nurse and focus only on her children, I began to resent her. It’s as if Whipple, too, turns against Anthea somewhat; instead, Marwood’s daughter Christine becomes the protagonist, with her troubled marriage to Nicholas and her and her sister Penelope’s different paths regarding motherhood taking pride of place.
The Persephone afterword provides useful information about the Welsh house (where Whipple stayed for a month in 1934) and family that inspired the novel. Whipple is a new author for me and I’m sure the rest of her books would be just as enjoyable, but I would only attempt another if it was significantly shorter than this one.
Major Francis Marwood, a widower, bumbles along at Saunby, his half-feral teenage daughters still living in the nursery and his sister the useless housekeeper; hosting regular cricket tournaments feeds his sport obsession. Then he remarries Anthea, who, in her later thirties, would at that time have been considered a spinster lucky to find a man (and, before long, have twins).
It was interesting to watch how my sympathies shifted: at first I felt sorry for Anthea because of how the rest of the family shuts her out, but as she becomes more entitled and insular, taking over the finances so she can hire a full-time baby nurse and focus only on her children, I began to resent her. It’s as if Whipple, too, turns against Anthea somewhat; instead, Marwood’s daughter Christine becomes the protagonist, with her troubled marriage to Nicholas and her and her sister Penelope’s different paths regarding motherhood taking pride of place.
The Persephone afterword provides useful information about the Welsh house (where Whipple stayed for a month in 1934) and family that inspired the novel. Whipple is a new author for me and I’m sure the rest of her books would be just as enjoyable, but I would only attempt another if it was significantly shorter than this one.
September 24, 2019
I had been saving the fortieth Persephone publication, Dorothy Whipple's The Priory, for a literal rainy day. Take it from me - there is little better than a new Persephone to get stuck into when the rain is pouring down outside, and you've finished running all of your errands. A chunky novel such as The Priory provides an even better treat. I therefore settled down to read this on a gloomy September day.
First published in 1939, and set in the late 1930s, The Priory was the third of Whipple's novels to be republished by Persephone. The novel takes place in Saunby Priory, a 'large house somewhere in England which has seen better times'. Like much of Whipple's work, it follows a central family, as well as those connected, in various ways, to them.
At the heart of this novel are the Marwoods; the widowed Major father, and two adult daughters, Penelope and Christine, who still live at home. The sisters are described by the publishers as being 'more infantile than most'; they have been sheltered from the outside world throughout their lives, and have very little independence to speak of.
When the reader is introduced to the Priory, it is '... still dark. To the stranger it would have appeared deserted... [There was] a cold glitter of water beside it, a cold glitter of glass window when clouds moved in the sky.' At this point in time, the young women are in the nursery, surrounded by a dressmaking pattern. They have not moved from the nursery since they were born: 'Their set of rooms was quite complete; a little world of its own shut off from the downstairs adult world by a stout oak door at the top of the stairs.' This isolation, much of it self-imposed, has had a real effect on the sisters. Whipple writes that it had 'encouraged in them the family tendency to detachment. They didn't like to be asked to do anything, they didn't like to be asked to do anything, they didn't like fixed hours or fixed appointments, they didn't like taking part in other people's affairs at all.'
Penelope and Christine's spinster aunt, Victoria, sits three storeys below them, 'in the dark, her white stockings alone betraying her presence.' The women, and the servants, are all waiting for the now impoverished Major Marwood to put the electricity on at the outset of the novel. Whipple comments: 'Since he was very economical in everything that did not directly affect his own comfort, the household had to wait for light until he wanted light himself.'
Major Marwood received the Priory as inheritance, but continually laments that he did not just stay in the army: '... Saunby was a mill-stone round his neck; a beautiful and honourable mill-stone, a mill-stone conferring great distinction, but a mill-stone.' Very early in the novel, he decides to propose marriage to a woman named Anthea, some years his junior.
When her acceptance is revealed to the sisters, they are shocked: 'To marry at forty and fifty. It shouldn't be done. Such bad taste... their own father... What amazed them now was that he was going to be different, he was going to be connected with somebody else, with a wife? It was incredible. It was stupefying.' They go out of their way to stay out of Anthea's way, spending more time than ever in each other's company.
I do not want to give anything away about the plot, as one of the real delights of The Priory is the changes of direction which it takes. Whipple's story, and her characters, are both splendidly drawn. Whipple's characters immediately feel so realistic. They are concerned with real, understandable things, and their relationships with one another are multilayered and complex. Whipple is so interested in how her creations are affected by circumstance, particularly when this suddenly or dramatically changes. Few authors reveal quite as much as Whipple does about her characters. I soon became absorbed into the world of the Marwoods. Their development is steady and believable. There is a quaintness to Whipple's work, but her writing, as ever, holds what feels like a very modern quality.
I am thrilled that so much of Whipple's work has been republished by the wonderful Persephone Books, and so pleased that I still have a few titles outstanding to read. Reading The Priory was a delight from start to finish, and I absolutely adored it.
First published in 1939, and set in the late 1930s, The Priory was the third of Whipple's novels to be republished by Persephone. The novel takes place in Saunby Priory, a 'large house somewhere in England which has seen better times'. Like much of Whipple's work, it follows a central family, as well as those connected, in various ways, to them.
At the heart of this novel are the Marwoods; the widowed Major father, and two adult daughters, Penelope and Christine, who still live at home. The sisters are described by the publishers as being 'more infantile than most'; they have been sheltered from the outside world throughout their lives, and have very little independence to speak of.
When the reader is introduced to the Priory, it is '... still dark. To the stranger it would have appeared deserted... [There was] a cold glitter of water beside it, a cold glitter of glass window when clouds moved in the sky.' At this point in time, the young women are in the nursery, surrounded by a dressmaking pattern. They have not moved from the nursery since they were born: 'Their set of rooms was quite complete; a little world of its own shut off from the downstairs adult world by a stout oak door at the top of the stairs.' This isolation, much of it self-imposed, has had a real effect on the sisters. Whipple writes that it had 'encouraged in them the family tendency to detachment. They didn't like to be asked to do anything, they didn't like to be asked to do anything, they didn't like fixed hours or fixed appointments, they didn't like taking part in other people's affairs at all.'
Penelope and Christine's spinster aunt, Victoria, sits three storeys below them, 'in the dark, her white stockings alone betraying her presence.' The women, and the servants, are all waiting for the now impoverished Major Marwood to put the electricity on at the outset of the novel. Whipple comments: 'Since he was very economical in everything that did not directly affect his own comfort, the household had to wait for light until he wanted light himself.'
Major Marwood received the Priory as inheritance, but continually laments that he did not just stay in the army: '... Saunby was a mill-stone round his neck; a beautiful and honourable mill-stone, a mill-stone conferring great distinction, but a mill-stone.' Very early in the novel, he decides to propose marriage to a woman named Anthea, some years his junior.
When her acceptance is revealed to the sisters, they are shocked: 'To marry at forty and fifty. It shouldn't be done. Such bad taste... their own father... What amazed them now was that he was going to be different, he was going to be connected with somebody else, with a wife? It was incredible. It was stupefying.' They go out of their way to stay out of Anthea's way, spending more time than ever in each other's company.
I do not want to give anything away about the plot, as one of the real delights of The Priory is the changes of direction which it takes. Whipple's story, and her characters, are both splendidly drawn. Whipple's characters immediately feel so realistic. They are concerned with real, understandable things, and their relationships with one another are multilayered and complex. Whipple is so interested in how her creations are affected by circumstance, particularly when this suddenly or dramatically changes. Few authors reveal quite as much as Whipple does about her characters. I soon became absorbed into the world of the Marwoods. Their development is steady and believable. There is a quaintness to Whipple's work, but her writing, as ever, holds what feels like a very modern quality.
I am thrilled that so much of Whipple's work has been republished by the wonderful Persephone Books, and so pleased that I still have a few titles outstanding to read. Reading The Priory was a delight from start to finish, and I absolutely adored it.
February 25, 2017
I loved this book! The Priory is a big house somewhere in the Midlands, going to rack and ruin because Major Marwood, a widower with two independent-minded daughters of 19 and 20, is more interested in cricket than in making any money from his estate. Also in the house is his eccentric sister, who spends all her time painting (badly). Then the Major decides to remarry, and the household is thrown into disarray.
The narrative passes from character to character, including some who only appear later in the book. I loved the way that different characters developed and showed both their bad and good sides depending on the circumstances. All of them have both faults and virtues.
The narrative passes from character to character, including some who only appear later in the book. I loved the way that different characters developed and showed both their bad and good sides depending on the circumstances. All of them have both faults and virtues.
December 4, 2012
I was so suprised by how much I loved this book. I picked it up in my local charity shop, fully expecting it to be a gentle but unsatisfying read. How wrong I was! Dorothy Whipple writes beautifully and with love about the residents of Saunby, a priory somewhere in depths of the English countryside. The story centres around the Major, his new wife Anthea and two of his children, Christine and Penelope alongside Thompson, the valet and two maids, Bessy and Bertha. And of course the incorrigible Nurse Pye. Throughout the course of the novel it charts the fate of the fading estate of Saunby and the relationships of the characters to the house. All the while, the Second World War looms overhead.
It is somewhat of an Upstairs, Downstairs novel but covers some fairly large themes, such as the class system and women's education. But what most impressed me about this book was the fact that the characters change and develop and characters who may seem odious are able to redeem themselves. Whipple, has the very almost Victorian British philosophy (that reminds me of my grandmother) about the redemptive powers of struggle and work and this also remains a theme throughout the novel.
This book left such a deep impression on me that I am now going to buy the rest of Mrs. Whipple's cannon (also what an extraordinarily wonderful name, Whipple!) and add some of the other books that Persephone publish to my 'to-read' list. The Priory is now undoubtedly an unexpected favourite of mine and I can't wait to read more of her work.
It is somewhat of an Upstairs, Downstairs novel but covers some fairly large themes, such as the class system and women's education. But what most impressed me about this book was the fact that the characters change and develop and characters who may seem odious are able to redeem themselves. Whipple, has the very almost Victorian British philosophy (that reminds me of my grandmother) about the redemptive powers of struggle and work and this also remains a theme throughout the novel.
This book left such a deep impression on me that I am now going to buy the rest of Mrs. Whipple's cannon (also what an extraordinarily wonderful name, Whipple!) and add some of the other books that Persephone publish to my 'to-read' list. The Priory is now undoubtedly an unexpected favourite of mine and I can't wait to read more of her work.
September 3, 2012
This is an excellent read for lovers of domestic fiction from between the two wars. Major Marwood, selfish owner of a money-losing estate (Saunby Priory), decides to marry again. His daughters PEnelope and Christine, who lead a half-wild, half-neglected existence in the old nursery, are not consulted. The new bride, Anthea, starts out with a drippy devotion to her husband, but that evaporates quickly when she realizes that he cares more about his annual cricket extravaganza than about her pregnancy. The two girls are turned out of the nursery to make place for the newborn twins, and nurse Pye takes on remarkable power over Anthea. In the meantime, Thompson, the Major's right hand man for all things cricket, is tricked into marriage by the despiccable housemaid Bertha, leaving his true love, Bessy, devastated. Bessy continues working at the priory, and eventually becomes pregnant by Thompson. In the meantime, Christine is swept off her feet by Nicholas. She settles with him near his parents, and things soon start to go wrong. Nicholas has no job or occupation except during cricket season, he is kept by his rich self-made father and dependent on him for every penny. Soon he falls in again with his former crowd of hard-partying loafers and even spends a night with a former flame. When Christine finds this out, she picks up their young daughter Angela and moves in with Penelope, who in the meantime has acquired a compliant husband of her own. Nicholas, overcome with remorse, disappears, leaving no contact information. Penniless but proud, Christine decides to find a job in London, and realizes how woefully unprepared she is to make a living. Uneducated, untrained as she is, she can only find a menial but backbreaking job as a receptionist in a beauty salon. This job keeps her away from Angela during the week and even during a whole month in the summer, when Penelope takes the child to the seaside. When Angela develops pneumonia, Christine quits her job. Abandoning her pride, she writes to her in-laws for financial help, not for her own sake, but for her baby. The in-laws, who were devastated by the separation, are eager to help. While all of this is going on, England is edging closer and closer to war, and Major Marwood has finally decided to sell Saunby Priory. The only one who really minds is Christine, who has always felt an almost mythical connection to her childhood home. When war seems inevitable, Nicholas returns home. He, too, has been trying to earn his own living and found it unexpectedly hard. At the end of the book, Nicholas' rich father comes up with the perfect scheme to save Saunby, give his son a useful occupation, and keep the family together : he buys Saunby from the Major, planning to turn it into a farm/agricultural cooperative, led by Nicholas, Christine, and even the returning Thompson.
I loved this book. Despite the fact that it is more than 70 years old, some of its themes are still very relevant today. For instance, the way that having a child changes everything, as it does for Anthea, who turns from clingy girl-wife into a resolute mistress of a household, or for Christine, who will sacrifice anything for the ability to keep her daughter. Another is the need for girls to be educated so they can be financially independent. Christine especially realizes this, during her separation from Nicholas, when she discovers that she is not qualified for any but the most menial jobs, and she vows that things will be different for Angela. This is in stark contrast to her father's first thought when he hears that one of his new twins is a boy: boys must be educated, and school fees are steep! Girls can be married off, but boys are expensive!
Although this is a novel about families - families forming, breaking up, reshaping themselves, there is really only one love story, and it is that of the chauffeur-cricketer Thompson with housemaid Bessy. Their love is doomed, first because Thompson is forced to marry Bertha, and later because Bessy tries to drown herself when her illegitimate pregnancy is discovered by Nurse Pye. She is taken in by her kindly neighbor, Mrs. Spencer, who goes off and tells Anthea just what she thinks of her management of her household and of her precious nurse Pye (I found myself cheering for Mrs. SPencer during her speech.). The other relationships don't really fall under the heading of romance. Major Marwood is such an unenthusiastic lover that he proposes to Anthea on the phone because he doesn't feel like braving the rain in order to walk over to her house with his proposal, unless he's sure she will accept it. PEnelope marries her wealthy lawyer husband only to get away from Saunby's oppressive atmosphere, and even Christine and Nicholas' whirlwind courtship barely registers on the romance meter, and in any case, it goes south almost immediately after the honeymoon.
One of the things in this novel that I found emotionally honest was that both Christine and Nicholas find out, after a life in the leisure class, how hard it is to make a living. They are both bone-tired at the end of the working day. There is no false romanticism here, and the reader can sympathise with Christine when she writes to her in-laws to ask for financial support.
I want to end witb a hypothesis as to why other reviewers have found the ending unsatifactory. I think that this refers to the fact that a housemaid runs through the house shouting that there will be no war after all, that there will be peace. I think this may refer to Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy. We all know that shortly afterwards, England was plunged in 5 long years of war. But I think that the author chose to end the book at that moment of unfounded optimism, because it fit in with the general upbeat mood of the ending : Nicholas and Christine are reunited, the family gets to keep Saunby PRiory, and, more importantly, the proposed farm will enable several families to make a living while also contributing to the war effort. So I thought there was nothing wrong with the ending. Indeed, Christine's father in law, who was described as a well-intentioned but often wrong-headed self-made millionnaire, redeems himself for his earlier attempts to meddle in Christine and Nicholas's life, by coming up with this very sensible idea.
I loved this book. Despite the fact that it is more than 70 years old, some of its themes are still very relevant today. For instance, the way that having a child changes everything, as it does for Anthea, who turns from clingy girl-wife into a resolute mistress of a household, or for Christine, who will sacrifice anything for the ability to keep her daughter. Another is the need for girls to be educated so they can be financially independent. Christine especially realizes this, during her separation from Nicholas, when she discovers that she is not qualified for any but the most menial jobs, and she vows that things will be different for Angela. This is in stark contrast to her father's first thought when he hears that one of his new twins is a boy: boys must be educated, and school fees are steep! Girls can be married off, but boys are expensive!
Although this is a novel about families - families forming, breaking up, reshaping themselves, there is really only one love story, and it is that of the chauffeur-cricketer Thompson with housemaid Bessy. Their love is doomed, first because Thompson is forced to marry Bertha, and later because Bessy tries to drown herself when her illegitimate pregnancy is discovered by Nurse Pye. She is taken in by her kindly neighbor, Mrs. Spencer, who goes off and tells Anthea just what she thinks of her management of her household and of her precious nurse Pye (I found myself cheering for Mrs. SPencer during her speech.). The other relationships don't really fall under the heading of romance. Major Marwood is such an unenthusiastic lover that he proposes to Anthea on the phone because he doesn't feel like braving the rain in order to walk over to her house with his proposal, unless he's sure she will accept it. PEnelope marries her wealthy lawyer husband only to get away from Saunby's oppressive atmosphere, and even Christine and Nicholas' whirlwind courtship barely registers on the romance meter, and in any case, it goes south almost immediately after the honeymoon.
One of the things in this novel that I found emotionally honest was that both Christine and Nicholas find out, after a life in the leisure class, how hard it is to make a living. They are both bone-tired at the end of the working day. There is no false romanticism here, and the reader can sympathise with Christine when she writes to her in-laws to ask for financial support.
I want to end witb a hypothesis as to why other reviewers have found the ending unsatifactory. I think that this refers to the fact that a housemaid runs through the house shouting that there will be no war after all, that there will be peace. I think this may refer to Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy. We all know that shortly afterwards, England was plunged in 5 long years of war. But I think that the author chose to end the book at that moment of unfounded optimism, because it fit in with the general upbeat mood of the ending : Nicholas and Christine are reunited, the family gets to keep Saunby PRiory, and, more importantly, the proposed farm will enable several families to make a living while also contributing to the war effort. So I thought there was nothing wrong with the ending. Indeed, Christine's father in law, who was described as a well-intentioned but often wrong-headed self-made millionnaire, redeems himself for his earlier attempts to meddle in Christine and Nicholas's life, by coming up with this very sensible idea.
October 22, 2023
What a treat it was to read this book on a rainy Saturday.
This author is new to me, and had come up as a suggestion on my Goodreads feed, which normally is not a good indicator but in this case was a very happy find. I’m quite delighted to see Whipple has written a handful of books I can also look forward to.
Set between the wars, the story involves a family estate, located in an area of natural beauty, that has passed through a few generations. It originally was a Priory and served the poor of the community, but was later acquired and made private by a wealthy family. As happens in these British stories, the current eccentric family falls on hard times, and they and their servants navigate various difficulties and must overcome hardships.
This author is new to me, and had come up as a suggestion on my Goodreads feed, which normally is not a good indicator but in this case was a very happy find. I’m quite delighted to see Whipple has written a handful of books I can also look forward to.
Set between the wars, the story involves a family estate, located in an area of natural beauty, that has passed through a few generations. It originally was a Priory and served the poor of the community, but was later acquired and made private by a wealthy family. As happens in these British stories, the current eccentric family falls on hard times, and they and their servants navigate various difficulties and must overcome hardships.
December 19, 2021
3.5* rounded up
May 22, 2016
Another excellent novel published by Persephone Books. I would like to give this book 4.5 stars because I found it a little laborious in the beginning, but since it was written by an author who I have grown to love, I pushed on and it was well worth a little perseverance.
First published in 1939 as contemporary fiction, it is today a delightful showcase of gentry grappling with inherited country estates and financial tribulations during the 1930s. And an ode to second chances. Upstairs/downstairs storylines were woven skilfully together at a particularly difficult period of history, when the dark clouds of another war were looming above everyone.
First published in 1939 as contemporary fiction, it is today a delightful showcase of gentry grappling with inherited country estates and financial tribulations during the 1930s. And an ode to second chances. Upstairs/downstairs storylines were woven skilfully together at a particularly difficult period of history, when the dark clouds of another war were looming above everyone.
November 14, 2015
"She saw for the first time that the history of Saunby was a sad one. It had been diverted from its purpose; it had been narrowed from a great purpose to a little one. It had been built for the service of God and the people; all people, but especially the poor."
The Priory’ is the story of how the future of Saunby Priory might be diverted to recover the livelihoods, dignity and self-worth of a large community of people, united in their purpose. It is a beautiful novel, worthy of the highest praise.
Find a full review here: http://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/22/...
The Priory’ is the story of how the future of Saunby Priory might be diverted to recover the livelihoods, dignity and self-worth of a large community of people, united in their purpose. It is a beautiful novel, worthy of the highest praise.
Find a full review here: http://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/22/...
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