The Priory (Paperback)

by Dorothy Whipple (Author), David Conville (Afterword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The setting for this, the third novel by Dorothy Whipple Persephone have published, is Saunby Priory, a large house somewhere in England which has seen better times. We are shown the two Marwood girls, who are nearly grown-up, their father, the widower Major Marwood, and their aunt; then, as soon as their lives have been described, the Major proposes marriage to a woman much younger than himself - and many changes begin.'"The Priory" is the kind of book I really enjoy', wrote Salley Vickers in the "Spectator", 'funny, acutely observed, written in clear, melodious but unostentatious prose, it deserves renewed recognition as a minor classic. Whipple is not quite Jane Austen class but she understands as well as Austen the enormous effects of apparently minor social adjustments...Christine is a true heroine: vulnerable, valient, appealing, and the portrait of her selfless maternal preoccupation, done without sentiment and utterly credible, is one of the best I have ever come across. The final triumph of love over adversity is described with a benevolent panache which left me feeling heartened about human nature...A delightful, well-written and clever book'.

About the Author
Born in 1893, DOROTHY WHIPPLE (nee Stirrup) had an intensely happy childhood in Blackburn as part of the large family of a local architect. Her close friend George Owen having been killed in the first week of the war, for three years she worked as secretary to Henry Whipple, an educational administrator who was a widower twenty-four years her senior and whom she married in 1917. Their life was mostly spent in Nottingham; here she wrote Young Anne (1927), the first of nine extremely successful novels which included Greenbanks (1932) and The Priory (1939). Almost all her books were Book Society Choices or Recommendations and two of them, They Knew Mr Knight (1934) and They were Sisters (1943), were made into films. She also wrote short stories and two volumes of memoirs. Someone at a Distance (1953) was her last novel. Returning in her last years to Blackburn, Dorothy Whipple died there in 1966.

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: Persephone Books Ltd (March 22, 2003)
• ISBN-10: 1903155304
• ISBN-13: 978-1903155301
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,925 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, February 8, 2009

By	L. M. Smith (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, March 30, 2009

By	K. Huff (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable read for a wet weekend, April 21, 2009

By	Immi's mum (sydney) - See all my reviews

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.