or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
25 used & new from $3.19

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Corner That Held Them (Virago Modern Classics)
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Corner That Held Them (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

~ Sylvia Townsend Warner (Author) "ALIANOR DE RETTEVILLE lay on her bed and looked at Giles who was her lover..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sir Ralph, Dame Lilias, Dame Sibilla (more...)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

List Price: $15.95
Price: $11.96 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $3.99 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Friday, November 13? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
12 new from $9.86 13 used from $3.19

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- -- $34.93
  Paperback $11.96 $9.86 $3.19

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Summer Will Show (New York Review Books Classics) by Sylvia Townsend Warner

The Corner That Held Them (Virago Modern Classics) + Summer Will Show (New York Review Books Classics)
  • This item: The Corner That Held Them (Virago Modern Classics) by Sylvia Townsend Warner

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Summer Will Show (New York Review Books Classics) by Sylvia Townsend Warner

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Lolly Willowes : Or the Loving Huntsman (New York Review Books Classics)

Lolly Willowes : Or the Loving Huntsman (New York Review Books Classics)

by Sylvia Townsend Warner
4.6 out of 5 stars (10)  $10.85
Music At Long Verney

Music At Long Verney

by Sylvia Townsend Warner
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  $17.95
Memento Mori

Memento Mori

by Muriel Spark
4.2 out of 5 stars (14)  $10.04
The Land of Women : A Novel

The Land of Women : A Novel

by Regina McBride
4.5 out of 5 stars (6)  $13.00
The Balm of Gilead Tree: New & Selected Stories

The Balm of Gilead Tree: New & Selected Stories

by Robert Morgan
4.5 out of 5 stars (2)  $17.95
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Spellbinding' SUNDAY TIMES 'The charm, the wit, the speculation make the book very remarkable' TLS 'No one after Hardy has inwoven more closely the sheer feel of material things, of weather, of light across water or foliage...' - George Steiner, TLS 'More people should know how GOOD she is ... a marvellous nose for character' - Spectator


Product Description

In memory of the wife who had once dishonored and always despised him, Brian de Retteville founded a 12th-century convent in Norfolk. Two centuries later, the Benedictine community is well established there and, as befits a convent whose origin had such ironic beginnings, the inhabitants are prey to the ambitions, squabbles, jealousies, and pleasures of less spiritual environments. An outbreak of the Black Death, the collapse of the convent spire, the Bishop's visitation, and a nun's disappearance are interwoven with the everyday life of the nuns, novices, and prioresses in this marvelous imagined history of a 14th-century nunnery.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 310 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (September 27, 1988)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 086068878X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0860688785
  • Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #776,698 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Inside This Book (learn more)


What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Corner That Held Them (Virago Modern Classics)
56% buy the item featured on this page:
The Corner That Held Them (Virago Modern Classics) 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
$11.96
Lolly Willowes : Or the Loving Huntsman (New York Review Books Classics)
19% buy
Lolly Willowes : Or the Loving Huntsman (New York Review Books Classics) 4.6 out of 5 stars (10)
$10.85
Summer Will Show (New York Review Books Classics)
18% buy
Summer Will Show (New York Review Books Classics) 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
$11.53
Music At Long Verney
6% buy
Music At Long Verney 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
$17.95

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sylvia Townsend Warner's masterpiece, August 27, 2001
By Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Townsend Warner started this novel with the intention of producing a Marxist-Leninist account of how a community of women made their living in the medieval period. That probably sounds deadly dull, but the book itself is anything but: indeed, it remains one of the most page-turning novels I've read in years. Detailing the lives of a convent through eighty years in the Middle Ages, THE CORNER THAT HELD THEM defies any simple explanation of its plot: nuns come and they leave; mothers superior replace their predecessors and then make new plans for the community (which often come to fruition and often don't); people affiliated with the community are born and then later die. Yet despite its apparent random nature, this remains one of the most engrossing books I can imagine: from its beginnings in disastrous marital infidelity to its unforgettable conclusion of desperate betrayal, it has all the fascination of real lived experience.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Laughing in the face of impermanence, January 5, 2004
By A Customer
There is everything to love about this novel, and nothing to dislike: hilarity, tenderness, complexity of characterization, shocks, unexpected twists, occasional heartbreak, and the inexhaustible panoply of human kind. The core "message"-although this is much more than a message novel-is impermanence. By looking at one convent over several generations, we are reminded of the certainty that we will all die and eventually be forgotten, which is why the author exhorts us to love as much as we can, before it's over. "Here I am, she thought, fixed in the religious life like a candle on a spike." Aren't we all, religious or not! "I consume, I burn away, always lighting the same corner, always beleaguered by the same shadows; and in the end I shall burn out and another candle will be fixed in my stead." So what to do? Laugh! Eat! Flirt with the priest (who, by the way, is an impostor). This is not just a chick-novel. Its pages are full of men who drift in and out of the convent and its surrounds and are as fascinating--and as unpredictable--as the women. What do to? Fall into the stream on a summer day and float. Or scheme and connive. Note the expressive, always surprising language. "Though in the main she was zealously self-deceiving, she had filaments of shrewdness floating from her, and it was with one of these that she sensed that other people were willing enough to be scandalized, and that there was plenty to scandalize them." Like another splendid novel, SHIP OF FOOLS, this one takes the full range of human possibility, compresses it in time and space, and holds it up for our delight. Coincidentally, it restores a sense of perspective to those of us who, fixed in our careers like candles on a spike, imagine the world will not turn without our effort. Very humbling, and sparkling with humor.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.