The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner

This 1948 novel by Sylvia Townsend Warner tells the story of an English nunnery from the 12th through the 14th century. Characters come and go, the nunnery drifts into various states of disrepair, and the nuns live their lives. It’s the story of a religious institution and the ways that it affects the women and (some) men who live within and around it. For a book about a nunnery, there’s less religious fervor than I was expecting. The marvel of this book is in the detail of the day-to-day which manages to never be boring. The pragmatic realities of the feeding, clothing, housing, and maintenance of the nunnery for the people within take center stage. There’s also a subtle theme about the ways in which power and authority of positions change the people who inhabit them in sometimes unexpected ways. Everyone in the book feels real. No small feat for a book that has scores of characters. I can’t think of another book that I’ve read that’s quite like this one, even the other book by this author that I’ve read. I’d strongly recommend this one.