Bookshelf: In This House of Brede
I just finished the fantastic Catholic novel In This House of Brede. Amazing. One of my favorite books of all-time and I encourage all of you to go pick up a copy of this novel, published as part of the Loyola Classics series (and formerly edited by Amy Welborn, who is responsible for a lot of content on this blog…. :-)).
The protagonist, Philippa Talbot, was a wealthy, powerful woman in the British Government when, in mid-life (or somewhat thereabouts) she stuns her social circle by deciding to enter the Benedictine Monastery at Brede, where she will be cloistered away from the world. For her undersecretary, Penny, this seems an amazing leap. But Philippa does it, selling her house and giving her cat to her housekeeper, Maggie, and going to Brede to attempt to “take the veil.”
One of the best parts about the novel is the characterization of the nuns and cloistered life. As anyone who’s read Story of A Soul or anything about monastic life, it is not the picnic that some might imagine. The nuns are human, after all. And here they are painted in all their failing, faults, and virtues, to glorious success. The current abbess, Hester, is charismatic, but upon her death early in Philippa’s novitiate, secrets are revealed and stories brought to light that divide the convent. And once a new Abbess is chosen, things take an entirely new direction.
The story is sprinkled with great characters, such as Dame Catherine; Sisters Hilary and Cecily, novices to Brede; Sister Veronica, the cellarer (nun in charge of the money), who has great devotion to Abbess Hester and some secrets of her own; Dame Monica; Dame Colette, the French nun in an English monastery; the Japanese postulants, and many others. Fortunately, the book comes with a list of characters so you don’t get confused as to who’s who, and all of the nuns special positions and offices are explained within the text, but not in a Hawthorne-esque way (i.e.,”let’s stop the entire story so I can explain all this to you in minute detail that you will not remember.”).
The prose is beautiful and the story riveting. Flashbacks are used to a nice effect, and the story doesn’t just stay on Philippa. It is also concerned with Cecily, who was one of my favorite characters; she’s entered the convent, hoping to become a “choir nun” (the higer rank, the ones who are called “Dame” and can hold office) over the objections of her mother, who wants her to marry the boy next door. She and Hilary are a good pair.
I will have to read this again post-haste; well, as soon as I finish the other books vying for my attention. This is a fantastic read, even if you’re not Catholic.
