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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Priory (Paperback)
The Priory is the story of the Marwood family: the Major, willing to spend profligately on his cricket fortnights, but reluctant to spend money on electric lighting; Christine and Penelope, his two grown daughters, thrust from the nursery once their father marries a much younger woman; and Anthea, the Major's second wife, who immerses herself in her own world once her children are born.
The other part of the novel's story concerns the servants: the indomitable Nurse Pye; Thompson, cricketer and womanizer; Betty; and Bertha. All live in Saunby Priory, a former priory turned country mansion. Not a lot "happens" in this novel; most of the action centers around emotion. It's all about subtlety here. The novel's description on Amazon compares Whipple with Jane Austen; but really, I think she's more like Barbara Pym in the way that she treats her characters, exposing people's strength and weaknesses unashamedly. According to the note at the back of the book, The Priory was based on real people; so much so that the models for the Marwoods and others were not amused at the characterization. There's a sort of Upstairs Downstairs feel to the novel (it was written thirty years before the BBC show), but ultimately the story belongs to the Marwoods, from tragedies to triumphs. And despite the fact that the book was written, and takes place, on the eve of a major catastrophe, Whipple infuses her novel with a sense of hope.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
By Jasper O. Summerton (Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Priory (Paperback)
Dorothy Whipple sees the drama and interest in the ordinary. Her stories are about families, the home, marriage, infidelity, relationships. She illustrates the fragility of human relationships and of love. She has the ability to make her characters absolutely real and her stories engaging and unforgettable. Her stories reveal her to be a keen observer of people, their flaws as well as their good qualities. Someone at a Distance (Persephone Classics) and 'The Priory' share a common theme: how inevitably and uncontrollably minor indiscretions can have the capacity to ruin marriages, childhood innocence, families, lives. And how through pride we often choose suffering over happiness. Both also illustrate how human suffering can be meaningful, and how often it is only through enduring unbearable suffering that happiness can be achieved. I cannot recommend Dorothy Whipple highly enough!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
enjoyable read for a wet weekend,
By Immi's mum (sydney) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Priory (Paperback)
I found this book compelling enough to read to the end, however I would describe it as a strange combination. It is partly a lighthearted, enjoyable pre-war english country house novel, where there is no real hardship. It is partly a very real and enlightening take on the situation for women pre-feminism and includes a few characters who are very stoic in the face of hardship (generally caused by unfaithful men or men who like cricket too much).
A good book for a rainy weekend with lots of cups of tea.
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