Book description
The first volume of a trilogy set in Suffolk and spanning five centuries of a family's history. In 1391 Martin Reed was bound to the soil by the feudal system, but his resentment flared in open defiance and, encouraged by the woman he loved, he broke free to begin a…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Town House as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Norah Lofts was my mother’s favourite author.
I read the books "because they were there," but I was soon a fan. Lofts came from an old farming family and had a deep sense of being rooted in a place. The Town House tells how "The Old Vine" came to be built. The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset travel on through their history. Each book is a collection of longish short stories, spanning time from the 1400s to the 1950s (when the books were written).
Lofts shows heartbreak lingering for centuries, haunting the house. A later character…
From Susan's list on The best books about time and change.
There was no such thing as YA when I was the right age for it. I went straight from the school stories of Enid Blyton to bonkbusters, bodice-rippers, and sweeping historical sagas the size of building bricks. The Suffolk trilogy was always my favourite of those, because its sweep was so stupendous. (Book one opens in the 1300s and Book three ends well into the twentieth century.) The Town House world is so physical, so brutal, so strange to modern eyes. The food, the clothes – my God, the plumbing! – the relentless scrabble to survive for all but…
From Catriona's list on The best book where the house is a character (and someone’s got to clean it).
If you love The Town House...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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