Dame Maura was sent away, but to my modern, non religious eyes, I don't think either woman should be blamed. Godden really knows how to touch the heart.Īnother weakness for me was that Sister Cecily seemed to be blamed for one nun's infatuation with with her.

I certainly cried buckets when it was revealed how Dame Phillipa's little son had died. If the solution to the monastery's financial crisis seems a little too miraculous, some other episodes had a heart rending realism. So I was expecting this to be Phillipa's Story, a middle aged career woman who found a vocation &, after giving away all her possessions, joins a Benedictine monastery.īut this story is much more than that and details the lives and often very human frailties of the nuns who live within the cloistered walls. I very much agree with this sentiment! Godden is a gifted writer with a fantastic imagination, who seems to go where the story takes her. My time had come to read this one, hence the 5 stars.Ī Goodreads friend (Barb) said about Rumer Godden that she never wrote the same book twice. Like Kristin Lavransdatter, some books must be read at the right moment in time. Finally, with so many good reviews from friends, I pulled it off the shelf by my treadmill where it had been calling my name every time I walked or ran. I bought this book used in NJ at least 15 years ago and it has survived many, many purgings of my library and yet, I never found the gumption to read it. Than when I started the book, but the life of faith rings true at Brede as well as in my own life among my own failings. No, I do not want to join a monastery anymore now This book was a beautiful testimony of how grace works in all of our lives. My favorite part of this book was the grace shown to the failures of many of the women and how God worked all things together for good in realistic ways in each of their lives. By page 200 I would call this a page-turner, and yet why? Only surprisingly wonderful writing. It felt like the rest of the book could not possibly be interesting and yet, it was often quite exciting. I wanted to scream at Philippa not to join a monastery. I did not love the theme at all at first.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden