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In This House of Brede

4.28 of 5 stars 4.28 · rating details · 1,160 ratings · 201 reviews

This extraordinarily sensitive and insightful portrait of religious life centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community.

Paperback, 672 pages

Published February 1st 2005 by Loyola Classics (first published 1969)

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Jun 20, 2008 Bettyjane rated it 5 of 5 stars

I re-read this book every year or so. The opening scene where the highly successful businesswoman Philippa is giving away treasured possessions which she will no longer need at Brede abbey, draws you right into this story. The community of Benedictine nuns are a fascinating bunch. Flawed yet likeable, they all have their own stories and Godden doesn't underdevelop any of them. I always felt this would make a sensational mini-series. The very good film starring the great Diana Rigg just can't mat...more

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Aug 29, 2007 Lydia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've read this at least three times before. It's interesting, because I am an atheist, but I find this book fascinating for its characterization of community life, particularly among women. I am interested in the way it explores a "humble" life--a life lived with a purpose other than financial growth or competition. The characters are very well drawn, the interactions are subtle and complex, and the result is a refreshing read.

UPDATE 8/29/07: I just finished this again, and was once more taken w...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Tera rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: pastreads

This book taught me a lot about cloister life. After growing up catholic, I wish these nuns were the ones to teach me. Maybe I would still feel like a catholic today. The nuns in the community focused on self-improvement and discipline, hard work, everyone had a function, everyone was needed in the community. Even though the book went into great detail about the daily habits, ceremonies, traditions the nuns kept, it went into little detail about the power of prayer. The author did not quite exac...more

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Sep 04, 2007 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who wants to escape

Shelves: favorites, dreamlives

This book has profound meaning for me...it's about a group of contemplative nuns. If you've ever gotten sick and tired of living in the mundane world, I highly recommend picking up this book. It shows just how hard nuns work, and how their struggles with each other are no different than the struggles that most people have in modern life. Still, there is something beautiful and holy about THIS HOUSE OF BREDE that makes me want to shuck off my sweat pants and don a habit. Especially when the bills...more

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Nov 29, 2008 Rtriptow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rumer Godden wrote the gripping 1939 novel Black Narcissus about a group of Anglican nuns who attempt to establish a convent school in a former harem palace in the foothills of the Himalayas, the result of which is failure, insanity, and death. Thirty years later Godden returned to the subject of nuns with In This House of Brede and explored it without much of the popular-fiction melodrama. The book was a best-seller anyway because it is fascinating, but it's less of a novel and more of a profil...more

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Jul 09, 2008 Maryellen rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone,

Recommended to Maryellen by: a friend who reads constanatly

I love this book and it is not a subject I was drawn to. It is about a Benedictine Abbey for women and they are contemplative, only see visitors through a grille once they have taken their vows. It is peaceful but the group of nuns create their own enviroment. The main character does not enter the order until she is in her early forties and her adjustment is somewhat difficult. The author is English but lived in India until she was a teenager. She describes the individual sisters and their diffe...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Ashley FL rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star-reads

I loved this book. I had feared it would be heavy or require a lot of thought. It did, in fact, cause me to think a lot, but not to try and figure out what happened or what it meant. This was a wonderful study of one woman's life in a monestary. How she decided to enter, the history of her life beforehand, how she lives the rest of her life once she takes her vows.

I also learned a lot about the religion and beliefs of the Benedictine order.

Maybe it just caught me at an opportune time, being righ...more

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Jul 23, 2008 Suzanne rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: to those interested in monastic life

Shelves: spiritual

A beautifully written story by Rumer Godden about monastic life. It is a fictional work but is said to be based upon monastic life at Stanwood Abbey in England. Godden lived on the property for three years while researching this seemingly curious lifestyle choice. As a result every word she writes rings true and every character she introduces to the reader seems believable and real.
Without being heavy handed or judgemental she conveys the choices these women make in becoming enclosed and living...more

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Mar 09, 2009 Sonia Gomes rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who have a liking for religious orders

Recommended to Sonia by: Carmel College Library

Shelves: convents-and-abbeys, fantastic

I read this book when I was in my teens, all through the Christmas Vacation of 1972. I neglected my studies, but I do not regret it. I reread it many times and it never fails to grip me and the sheer beauty of the book leaves me in tears.
Philippa Talbot enters the Abbey of Brede when she is successful, at the peak of her career, all her friends are astounded, but for her the life that she had led was simply not enough. Yes, she chooses to leave all her worldly possessions in pursuit of a life as...more I read this book when I was in my teens, all through the Christmas Vacation of 1972. I neglected my studies, but I do not regret it. I reread it many times and it never fails to grip me and the sheer beauty of the book leaves me in tears.
Philippa Talbot enters the Abbey of Brede when she is successful, at the peak of her career, all her friends are astounded, but for her the life that she had led was simply not enough. Yes, she chooses to leave all her worldly possessions in pursuit of a life as a Cloistered Benedictine nun. When she knocks on the door of the Abbey of Brede and tells the Mother Abbess, “I wish to try my vocation as a Benedictine nun in this house of Brede,” that is when the real story begins.
This novel with its many characters can be recognized as one of the most realistic explorations of religious life in literature. So much goes on behind those Abbey walls, but always within a framework of prayer, sacrifice, and love. Prayer, sung prayer in choir and personal prayer alone. Prayer says one of the nuns “Is our craft. . . . The craft of a contemplative religious, and as a good workman, an artist, loves his craft, we must delight in ours.” The nuns all find solace and peace in their devotion to continual prayer. Their special calling is to honor God through prayer, and to change the world by doing so. What was touching for me is that lay people could ask the nuns to intercede for them during their times of need.
Sacrifice - when you are thrown in the midst of so many nuns, there are so many different ‘sacrifices’ that are expected from you, Dame Agnes, for example resents Dame Philippa for her superior learning, Dame Agnes also resents her rival the poet Dame Veronica. So many emotions, jealousies, loneliness and rancor plague the lives of the fellow “sisters.” The life of a cloistered Benedictine nun is in no way the quiet oasis that many fantasize cloistered life to be.
Love - becoming a nun means that you are in the midst of women from very different backgrounds, who you are not related to and you have to love them. Love is not naturally innate. Indeed, as a nun, love towards the other sisters is a sacrifice and gift that requires the grace of God. But by continuous prayer, sacrifice, the thought of others before self, that at the end, Philippa learns to love each of the sisters equally, cherishing their many different foibles and their different natures. However, just like in a marriage in which there are times when it is so very difficult to love one’s spouse, In This House of Brede illustrates that it is equally difficult to find the will to love in a cloister.
This beautiful book emphasizes that what one does with ones own life is your personal choice, the choice aided by God. Thus, although we might want our lives to be one way, our Lord might have something entirely different in mind for us – perhaps more beautiful- but He will give us the strength and his love to do it.
On a personal note, I know that sometimes we yearn for some thing, it could be a person, it could be a job and we pray for it with all our heart. We do “achieve this thing” but many times it turns out to be truly unsuitable for us, but always God with his infinite capacity for Love helps us through this difficult time of our lives.
On a personal note, I know that sometimes we yearn for some thing, it could be a person, it could be a job and we pray for it with all our heart. We do “achieve this thing” but many times it turns out to be truly unsuitable for us, but always God with his infinite capacity for Love helps us through this difficult time of our lives.

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Sep 12, 2012 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Advice for future readers:
1. I do not recommend this as the first book by Rumer Godden to read.
2. read the preface
3. read the publisher's note at the end before starting the book. This is glossary/description of the Benedictine Life. I didn't notice it until I'd finished, instead I just read the wikipedia page about Benedictines which isn't as informative.
4. mark the page with the list of characters, you might find it helpful to keep biographical notes, too.

Now, my review:

Another Rumer Godden...more Advice for future readers:
1. I do not recommend this as the first book by Rumer Godden to read.
2. read the preface
3. read the publisher's note at the end before starting the book. This is glossary/description of the Benedictine Life. I didn't notice it until I'd finished, instead I just read the wikipedia page about Benedictines which isn't as informative.
4. mark the page with the list of characters, you might find it helpful to keep biographical notes, too.

Now, my review:

Another Rumer Godden novel about nuns, this time the story revolves around cloistered Benedictine abbey in England. The House of Brede is fictional but based on stories that nuns in a similar abbey in London told to her.

I wouldn't say that the book has a normal plot/structure(at least not like Rumer's other book about nuns that I've read, Five for Sorrow Ten for Joy). Each chapter unfolds like a little subplot and usually focuses on the character development of one nun; sometimes the subject carries over into another chapter, sometimes the subject is hardly mentioned at all later on. The over-arcing character development of Dame Philippa keeps the book cohesive - the necessary thread that makes In This House of Brede a novel rather than a collection of short stories. As a novel I'd give this book 3 stars, the stories in it get 4 stars (I'm rating it on goodreads as a 4 because I love Rumer Godden). I never really took to Philippa, I spent a good part of the book not understanding her, I guess I was a bit like her fellow Sisters. Her growth as a person and depth as a character wasn't as obvious as that of the other nuns (perhaps because it was drawn out over the course of 400 pages, stopping and starting, rather than condensed/in-your-face like the minor characters).

There are a lot of characters which I at first found hard to keep track of. Because of the way she tells a story - having the characters help tell the story by adding their voice to the narration from time to time (if you've ever read Rumer Godden you will know what I mean) - I feel like I missed a lot of the early nuances. For the first couple chapters these guest narrators are just names, not characters with traits and history. By the end of the book, however, I found myself thinking, "Haha, that comment is so like Dame Agnes" because Rumer really, knows her characters, like they're real people. Perhaps they are, since the book is based in fact and in the preface Rumer mentions how a committee of 3 nuns helped her edit the story, and so I like to think that these little quotes in the book are sort of snippets from the real life nuns. While this method of storytelling and character development is quintessential Rumer Godden, I felt like in this case it gave the impression that the nuns were always talking to each other. This is not true: they spend most of their day in silence.

Rumer is a very descriptive writer but I wish there had been a bit more explanation about the Benedictine order (after finishing the book I found out that there is, to some extent, in the form of a publisher's note at the very end). (Side note: I am an atheist and I have never been to church, yet I enjoyed this book because it is not at all preachy. It is a very honest portrait of a house of nuns.) The book covers many years, including a very important moment in modern Catholic history: Vatican II, which I wish she had spent more time discussing. Granted, the book is long enough as it is, and any pages devoted to the Catholic Church (and especially anything of the world outside the cloister's walls) would have distracted from the true subject of In This House of Brede, which is, of course, the nuns ("nuns as they really are," as Dame Felicitas says in the Preface).
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Feb 01, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

A friend recommended Rumer Godden, an author I had never heard about. So I got this book from the library--I had heard of it. I wish I had the one with the Phyllis Tickle introduction because I love her.
This novel is about Benedictine nuns in the convent at Brede (England) in mid-twentieth century. Rumer Godden is one of those authors who can create real characters about whom you can care. Each one of the sisters is flawed and holy. There is enough tension to keep the story going (where will the...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Su rated it 5 of 5 stars

I remember seeing my grandmother's paperback version 30 years ago, but didn't read until a few years ago and just re-read it last week. It is an engrossing book detailing the lives of cloistered nuns. It focused on one woman,Phillipa Talbot, a recent convert to Catholicism, who leaves her successful career and enters the convent so she can live her life with integrity and meaning. The book details the nun's day to day life in the convent, and the struggles and issues each has to deal with- famil...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Gypsy rated it 4 of 5 stars

How great a name is Rumer Godden? I really enjoyed this quiet book, even though I went into it rather skeptical of its ability to hold my attention. What I gathered from the cover is that it was about a well-respected career woman (with the also fantastic name of Philippa Talbot)who joins a Benedictine monastery. The interaction between the women in the abbey, small but compelling plot elements, and insights into the contemplative life and Christian spirituality in general kept me turning the pa...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

So close to five stars. Maybe five. Very much a "people" book, about the interrelation of those in community with one another. It could be family, it could be a workplace (a law firm!), though it actually is a Benedictine convent in England. There are nuns at all stages - postulants (in the initial trial period, determining whether there is truly a vocation), novitiate sisters (having taken temporary vows), dames (solemn vows), and those in leadership - prioress, mother abbess. Think summer asso...more So close to five stars. Maybe five. Very much a "people" book, about the interrelation of those in community with one another. It could be family, it could be a workplace (a law firm!), though it actually is a Benedictine convent in England. There are nuns at all stages - postulants (in the initial trial period, determining whether there is truly a vocation), novitiate sisters (having taken temporary vows), dames (solemn vows), and those in leadership - prioress, mother abbess. Think summer associate, associate, counsel, partner, and managing partner.

That's all it is - of years that pass in a community with a common purpose, a structure and a hierarchy. People arrive and leave. Everyone has a back story, something to be discovered by all, to be revealed only to a few despite misunderstanding, to explain behavior and volition. There is love and contempt, pettiness and grandeur, personal and relational growth, and always, the great unifying force of community. In other books, the force would be family, entrepreneurship, art. Here it is religious vocation - do you have it? And can you be brave enough to fulfill the thing you know to be your truest desire? It's the same question we ask ourselves all the time at work or at home - do I want to be here? Can I bear to stay even though it feels like dying by inches? Can I really leave and pursue the thing I want most? What on earth is that thing? In other words, there is nothing less human about these women (and the occasional man, whether friar, abbot, or suitor) who pursue an often inscrutable goal. I really appreciated how the book demystified the women. When one of the protagonists, a highly successful businesswoman, first arrives at the convent having downed three scotches just to go through with it, she is afraid to greet each nun with the Pax, a kiss of peace. The abbess just shrugs and says that scotch is a good, strong smell.

For me, the religious overlay was fascinating and beautiful. It confirmed what I've suspected for a long time - that I envy people who do have a religious vocation, that I wish it was what I wanted (being Protestant is the least of my troubles there). The primary impact of the convent setting, the most noticeable part of reading "a book about nuns," was the women's goal of diminishing themselves so that another might be increased - the goal least considered in most of my own surroundings (somehow I can't stop thinking about the Firm as I write this). It's a thinker. And enriching to read about a community so like and so unlike my own.

As a note of caution, there is a small story arc dealing with abortion that a (young, California-bred) reader might find difficult or off-putting. I did not, because ask a Catholic nun what to do about two pink lines and expect a Catholic nun to answer you (and consider asking someone else if you want the other answer). More importantly, it seemed to me that said Catholic nun's conclusion was based less on truism and more on what an abortion would mean for the woman who fiercely wanted her baby and didn't think enough of herself to voice her real desire to her childish man. In my mind, the troubling part of that story line was that said childish man eventually grows up, implying that such things happen in real life. Readers are welcome to disagree. (less)

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Dec 12, 2009 Eileen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: britlit

While this is clearly a very well done book, and I appreciate Rumer Godden pretty seriously, I gradually found it more and more difficult. Going deeper and deeper into the stifling atmosphere of not just Catholicism but pre-Vatican II turn of 1960 Catholicism is just hard. I am stifled. I can't be a part of this rhetoric, no matter how believable/sympathetic/compelling the characters are. I can't endorse it. Did you know, for instance, that abortion is evil? Oh.

Besides that, about 2/3 of the wa...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Helen Kitson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

From the preface I learnt that the prototype for the book was Stanbrook Abbey, which 'stands in its great park above a village in Worcester, its bell tower can be seen for miles.' My husband passes Stanbrook, an enclosed Benedictine Order, every morning on his journey to work. It was from him that I learnt that the nuns are soon moving from Stanbrook. Vague reasons are given on their website (yes, they have a website!), but I suspect it's largely to do with falling numbers. When Godden wrote her...more From the preface I learnt that the prototype for the book was Stanbrook Abbey, which 'stands in its great park above a village in Worcester, its bell tower can be seen for miles.' My husband passes Stanbrook, an enclosed Benedictine Order, every morning on his journey to work. It was from him that I learnt that the nuns are soon moving from Stanbrook. Vague reasons are given on their website (yes, they have a website!), but I suspect it's largely to do with falling numbers. When Godden wrote her book, her version of Stanbrook numbered 26 choir nuns, 9 lay sisters, 6 novitiates, 3 extern sisters 'and fifty-four others, choir, claustral, extern and novices'. In October 2003, Stanbrook had '26 professed nuns, one novice and two postulants.'

The novel itself concerns 42-year-old Philippa Talbot, who decides to leave her job and easy way of life to become a nun. 'One of the good things about a Catholic church' she tells her former lover 'is that it isn't respectable. You can find anyone in it, from duchesses to whores, from tramps to kings.' Godden herself was never allowed inside the nuns' enclosure at Stanbrook, but three of the nuns read her novel in manuscript, so it's a pretty accurate picture of life in a monastery.

There's so much to like about this generous, uplifting book. The central thread (although there are others) concerns Philippa, a convert who becomes a nun at the age of forty-two. By the end of the book she has grown enormously, having come to terms with her past, with herself - "A little thing, thought Philippa, but the greatest anyone can give: yourself." A fluent Japanese speaker, the end of the novel sees her leaving the monastery where she's spent the last 15 years of her life, to embark upon a new phase in her life as a religious, as she steps onto a plane bound for Japan, where she will help the Japanese nuns in their new House.

The novel shows that entering a monastery isn't the end of life for those with a vocation, but the start. Though they have given themselves, they are still of course individuals, with their different quirks and gifts. Sister Cecily, a gifted singer, had the hardest time to tear herself away from a man who loved her, and a mother who couldn't bear to let her go. Cecily's Clothing is one of the most moving parts of the novel, though I felt for her mother - I can imagine how terrifying it could be to see a beloved daughter in a wedding dress, her groom unseen. Kazuko, one of the Japanese nuns, finds contentment in the monastery when she reveals to Dame Colette her talent for weaving.

Godden handles sensitive subjects so well in this book. In spite of talking to Philippa at Brede, young Penny goes ahead with an abortion (I know someone who was pretty much bullied into having an abortion by her husband, so that part rang horribly true). Anyway, the nuns hold a night vigil for Penny when she becomes dangerously ill following the abortion, and rejoice with her when she subsequently has her two children. Both Penny and her husband keep in touch with Philippa, and there's never a sense of Philippa making either of them feel guilty about the abortion. The nuns recognise human frailties - being human themselves, how could they not? Dame Clare says of Cecily, 'She hasn't any faults, and that makes her...like a person without a shadow.'

It is a thrilling moment when Abbess Catherine drops the little pectoral cross that contains the ruby that will save the House. In an ordinary novel, one might think it too convenient; in this novel, it is close to a miracle. [July 2004] (less)

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Feb 15, 2010 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is quite a book.

What is so interesting and wonderful about In This House of Brede is that while it is in effect a novel about one woman's journey from successful career woman to Benedictine nun, Godden reveals to us the struggles and thoughts of a multitude of women. As several of the nuns point out throughout the novel, it is so easy to forget that nuns are women first. The monastery is a community of people, some of whom are witty, some of whom are kind and gentle, some of whom are elega...more

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Mar 12, 2008 Lara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: catholic

I LOVED this book. It is such a faithful, warm and real portrayal of women, women who are very easy to connect with, despite their cloistered life. Rumer G's writing style suited me perfectly. She slips in dialoge in an interesting way, almost like asides, that made me feel like I was a confidant, or I was in the room with the women. There were scenes that made me laugh, that made me cry, times I was shocked and times I felt awe. Just lovely, and perfect for Lent.

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Feb 15, 2010 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a pleasant and enriching experience it was to step into the world of the Benedictine nuns of Brede Abbey in Sussex, England! Brede Abbey is a fictional place. But what transpires in this lovely novel opens for examination, the very secretive world of the lives of monastic nuns. This story is based on information the author gleaned in visiting several of the Benedictine abbeys in England. Many of the “sisters” that inhabit this tale are based on the lives of the nuns that so willingly shared...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Erica Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

In This House of Brede, is, like all of Rumer Godden's work which I have read, a gorgeously written book in which goodness fairly leaps off the page, and in which the characters- charming, infuriating, and all of them deeply flawed- are really memorable and irresistibly lovable.

The Loyola Press edition of this book is beautiful: beautifully bound, with a beautiful spine- it looks lovely on my bookshelf. However, the number of proofreading errors inside approaches the absurd- as I went along, I...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Barb rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was recommended to me by a friend who saw as a recommendation from a blog. I bought it at a thrift store and decided to give it a try. The first few chapters were very painful and, really, I almost stopped reading it (which rarely happens). It sort of reminded me how I felt at the beginning of Harry Potter (in terms of boredom). But, after I got through the beginning -- it was truly wonderful. Set in a nun's monastery in England, it is about a professional woman (I think set in the 1950's)w...more

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Jun 12, 2009 Sharon Ader rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I would like to reread this book at a later time. I enjoyed it, but I was so busy I really didn't get to read it and enjoy it. I love the story and learning about life in a monastery. I really liked the nuns and their personalities, but because it took me so long to read the book, it was hard to remember some of them and the rolls they played.

The main character Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman leaves her life to join a cloistered Benedictine community. We learn about the...more

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Dec 27, 2007 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, faith, bas_bleu

I just loved this. It's a fairly complex novel that interweaves three layers of story: There's the personal journey of Philippa Talbot, a career woman in her forties who enters the cloistered world of a Benedictine monastery; the story of this particular monastery as it buries one abbess and elects a new one; and an exploration of the life in general of a cloistered order, devoted to prayer.

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Dec 03, 2007 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: adults

Rumer Godden is a prolific writer who converted to Catholicism as an adult. She is brilliant at character development and her characters are fully fleshed out and so very interesting. In this novel, we follow a woman as she discerns her vocation as a nun. We see her whole life in segments as she learns to adust to her life in cloister. Fabulous read!!!

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Aug 27, 2007 Loren rated it 2 of 5 stars

Being a Benedictine nun is really hard. They have to learn like 50 different masses in Latin and occasionally "punish" themselves using a lash. Their friends only come and visit when they are considering getting abortions, and sometimes the food is terrible. Even so, it has its rewards. The first one being that there aren't many boys around.

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Dec 29, 2009 Julianne rated it 5 of 5 stars

If I had to choose ten books to take with me to a deserted island, this would be one. Not light reading but joyful in its weight, somehow....most compelling, making one want to explore one's own beliefs, assumptions, behaviors. Certainly a fascinating look into cloistered life, quite eye-opening and refreshingly honest. Each character almost resonates with the reader as a part of self. Not action-packed or full of twisting plot, but deeply seeing into life in the large things and the small. A wo...more

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Apr 19, 2007 Amanda Clay rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the catalogue of my obsessions, nuns ranks right up there with freak shows and prison, and this book is the best nun book of them all. It's a wealth of knowledge if, like me, you're curious as to the structure of the Benedictine day and year, and it's surprisingly gripping. A well done story all the way 'round.

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Feb 20, 2013 Maren rated it 4 of 5 stars

I remember this from so long ago. The beautiful writing of Rumer Godden. For the silent nuns, her style is not a perfect fit, as she describes so much through their dialogue, a dialogue discouraged through the silence of their days.

I don't remember Godden's careful exposition of the extreme classism of the Abbey, on the cusp of change through Vatican II. This time, so many years since I last read it, and so far from the Catholicism I was originally raised in, it seems exotic to me. I remember me...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Al rated it 4 of 5 stars

A beautiful story about life in a (female) Benedictine monastery in southern England. The main character, Philippa Talbot, leaves a successful career as a senior British civil servant to enter the monastery. Ms. Godden blends a very interesting plot line with appealing, well-developed characters and detailed, lovely descriptions of the monastic life, with great emphasis on the music, ceremony, and rhythm of daily life. Many of the characters face daunting personal challenges; some rise to them...more

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Oct 06, 2007 Dottie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1944-1966, theclosetshelf, own

Probably my favorite Godden book though I love them all. She is one of my earliest "adopted" authors whose works I read repeatedly and in as near completion as I can possibly do so -- I will keep searching them out until I've read them all.

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About Rumer Godden

She was born in Sussex, England, but grew up in India, in Narayanganj. Many of her 60 books are set in India. Black Narcissus was made into a famous movie with Deborah Kerr in 1947.

Godden wrote novels, poetry, plays, biographies, and books for children.

For more information, see the official website: Rumer Godden

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80977.In_This_House_of_Brede?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347509758l/80977.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80977.In_This_House_of_Brede?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden[/url]

In This House of Brede

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