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In This House of Brede Hardcover – March 14, 2022

by Rumer Godden (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,823 ratings
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Pax is the motto of Brede Abbey. Yet its peace is the peace of God-"not," as Godden brings to her readers' notice, "the world's peace." The walls of Brede witness life of unceasing work and prayer, little creature comfort, persistent disappointment and misunderstanding-yet a life of peace all the same, unswervingly joyful and loving. Into this life enters Philippa Talbot, ambitious, independent, successful, forsaking her beautifully arranged career in the world for a vocation of complete self-gift to God. Over the years and through myriad relationships in Brede and beyond, Philippa's spirit is tested and her mission refined, to the point of becoming "not what thou art, nor what thou hast been, beholdeth God with His merciful eyes, but what thou wouldst be."

A milestone in Catholic literature, In This House of Brede is fiction of the highest caliber: no saccharine, simpering imitation of life, but a wholehearted, unreserved reflection of reality in its awful fullness.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    390 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Cluny Media
  4. Publication date
    March 14, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    194441889X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1944418892
  8. See all details
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  1. ‘Not what thou art, nor what thou hast been, beholdeth God with His merciful eyes, but what thou wouldst be.’
    Highlighted by 325 Kindle readers
  2. ‘You can do nothing of yourself,’ the old Abbess had said. ‘But you can make yourself an instrument through which strength can flow.’
    Highlighted by 318 Kindle readers
  3. ‘A vocation is a gift,’ said Dame Ursula. ‘If it has been truly given to you, you will find the strength.’
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rumer Godden (1907-1998) was among the most distinguished English authors of the twentieth century, writing dozens of novels and children's books, as well as an assortment of non-fiction works. A convert to Catholicism, she placed the mysteries of God, salvation, and sin at the center of her most popular works, among which are Black Narcissus, Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, and In This House of Brede.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cluny Media (March 14, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 390 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 194441889X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1944418892
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.38 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,823 ratings

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Rumer Godden

Rumer Godden

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,823 global ratings
NOT ABOUT CONTENT BUT KINDLE FORMAT
3 Stars
NOT ABOUT CONTENT BUT KINDLE FORMAT
I gave 3 stars to make this a neutral "review", as it's not about the content but the Kindle format, and there was no other option offered to inform Amazon about the problem.This book has character encoding issues — specifically " †" is ubiquitous throughout and makes it near try impossible to glean the meaning at times. Whoever created this book used a character font set that is not appropriate. Please fix!
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Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Classic
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024
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The daily life of contemplative nuns—sounds like there wouldn’t be enough action to write a novel. Yet there is plenty of drama in the inner growth of each character and the challenge of living with others. And despite their isolation, the outer world brings changes to their community.
Wonderful character study, engrossing read. So glad Amazon offers so many classics gratis or at very low price on Kindle!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Have you ever wondered what goes on in a monastery?
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2009
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When I was young, like most Catholic girls then, I had favorite nuns. I loved them, at times more than my parents, because I knew that they had given themselves to serve the world, no questions asked. One could throw an eraser in a way that Roger Clemens would have envied, and she used it judiciously to enforce a discipline that this little rebel needed enormously. I couldn't imagine any other way to serve for a very long time.

In_this_House_of_Brede ("Brede") is not about a girl with some sort of romantic idea of what a nun is. Rather it is about a woman who decides to join a monastery, knowing full well what it will mean to her former life. She's a normal high-ranking government official's career, has a lover, a flat of her own that is filled with antiques, and, for the 1950's, a huge salary -- her secretary observes, "She must have 4,700 pounds a year [in 1955, a huge amount of money]! How can she give all this up?" (not a literal quote).

Even if we can't fathom becoming a religious (as priests and nuns are called) ourselves, Brede let's us imagine this world where all decisions about your life are made without your input, where celibacy is even more highly prized that it is by some people now, and find it oddly comforting. Could any of us do what this woman did -- pick up a new life that is antithetical to what you've ever known in your life?

This is a story of courage, faith and love that even non-Christians will find intriguing, fascinating, and very difficult to stop reading. If I wanted a book to curl up with this winter, I think Brede is quite near the top of my list.

Brede still fills me laughter, tears, and a faith that, perhaps, everything is better because of these people who have given their lives to the purpose of becoming part of a prayer turbine that powers a battering ram hammering on the doors of Heaven asking God to bless the World. I'm no longer a Christian, I've been married for 32 years, and I've had a lot of jobs. But, every time I read this book, I remember those nuns, and what I knew would be the best of all lives -- serving others.

I must tell you that this has been one of my favorite books for over 30 years, and sits with T.H. White's _The Once and Future King_ The Once and Future King , _Lord of the Rings_ J.R.R. Tolkien Boxed Set (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) , and Heinlein's _Stranger in a Strange Land  Stranger in a Strange Land . It doesn't seem like it should fit with these others, but you might find it so after you've read it.
24 people found this helpful
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GoodnSimple
4.0 out of 5 stars not a typical story for me
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2024
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In one way it was just my thing, in that it was a story invested heavily in characters…where nothing much happened. I also like a bit of the spiritual thrown in. But this was more than that. I was touched in a myriad of ways. Lovely.
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Katie Leatherwood
5.0 out of 5 stars Life in a cloister? Interesting!
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024
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After watching 'Black Magnolia,' I looked up Rumer Godden's other works and read reviews of 'In This House of Brede.' Can nuns' life in a cloister be interesting, even exciting? Yes! This is an inside look at a tight-knit community of women, their personalities and struggles behind the walls of Brede, a monastery for nuns. It touches on major themes: desire, sex, lies, money, abortion, death, grief, the purpose of life. My mother-in-law was in a convent for years and this novel helped me understand the appeal of such a calling. The blurb on the back says, "A milestone in Catholic literature." Indeed. I'm a retired English teacher (a literary snob) and found Godden's writing beautiful, fluent, and effortless. 'House of Brede' is a page-turner.
One person found this helpful
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Jeremy D. Booty
5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic characters in extraordinary setting
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2024
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I read this long ago, probably not that long after it was published. How wonderful it was to read it again, with different, more mature eyes! I read it this time in practically one sitting. It makes for compelling reading, not because there is a serial killer afoot or because the main character is in love, but because Godden immerses us in a life most of us have not considered and puts us among characters that are ordinary people in an extraordinary setting. I was truly sorry to reach the end.
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Phyllis Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024
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I have never felt anything like the feelings I got reading this book. I am not religious but this book opened my eyes. I cried and laughed, and sighed and just loved the characters,especially sister or should I say dame Monica. explanation of this religious life was fantastic. Danme hillthe mai ter was
. 'Character was written so beautifully (kindle went crazy) her name was Phillips. And I just loved this book. Sometimes a little too wordy but overall learned about another religion I knew nothing about... ... pictures of the author were a bonus!#
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a reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Strangely dated
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2020
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I had read this book multiple times after it had first come out. I even converted and spent a year in a Benedictine monastery as a volunteer, but the changes in the church and among the nuns, the fact that I had no grasp of the theology, and the craziness of the times caused me to give the thing up. As American culture has become more fundamentalist and theocratic over the forty years since I had first read it, I find now that I simply cannot take the story seriously. Nothing has turned out the way the narrative presumed, in part because of the collapse of Platonism that made Christianity make sense. I identify with the character McTurk now who prefers Buddhism to Christianity. But despite my change in outlook and rejection of the characters' behaviors and motivations, the novel still stands up well as a piece of writing. Characters are fully developed and situations and mysteries are well-paced and effective. The balance between Phillipa's world and the monastery is excellently done, but I still don't quite know why anyone would do what she did, even though I myself got carried away on a flight of Platonism.
The world has changed a lot and even more the Catholic Church in the past nearly 50 years. Today the book would not move me toward Christianity at all. But as a record of what was and of what was hoped for it is still excellent.
18 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ruth
5.0 out of 5 stars Spannender Kloster Alltag!
Reviewed in Germany on August 1, 2018
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Ich liebe dieses Buch seit Jahrzehnten und freue mich, es als e-book gefunden zu haben.
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Como Mike
5.0 out of 5 stars Commitment
Reviewed in Italy on May 14, 2017
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As the nun dedicate the selves to God, Godden has dedicayed herself to the study of their life. A prescious glance at the dedication and tribulation of commitment
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Fr Adrian G. Head
5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable!!!
Reviewed in Australia on March 17, 2018
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Rumer Godden has not only written a fascinating story full of interesting events, but she has treated her subject with care and inoffensive delicacy.....and with great understanding of a way of life that, yes, is in the world, yet not of the world.
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Barbara Cundari
5.0 out of 5 stars A book to read, and read again !!
Reviewed in Canada on June 11, 2015
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I love this book, and owned a copy of it years ago, which I eventually donated to our Church library (and rather regretted doing so, later..... although am happy to have shared the joy of it with others !). For me, who was raised by nuns, it was a lovely nostalgic book.....very peaceful, somehow. It does explore the issues of a woman 'entering' the religious life at a later stage, and the personalities and occasional conflicts between the nuns themselves, each with their own distinct personality, despite the apparent uniformity of their life within the convent. I love Rumer Godden as a writer, and this is one of her best books, in my opinion.
One person found this helpful
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Maureen
5.0 out of 5 stars An inspirational book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2013
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I loved this book when I first read it 40 years ago . . . and I loved it when I re-read it last week. It is a very moving book - inspirational, thought-provoking and with a wonderful sense of peace.

The fictional story is of life over a period of about 10 years in a contemplative enclosed Benedictine Abbey before Vatican II. It is based on the author's 3-year close contact with Stanbrook Abbey. The central character is a highly successful business woman in her 40s who gives up everything to enter the monastic life. The story follows not only her struggles and achievements but those of other nuns who, like any group of people, have their faults and failings.

Bigger than all the difficulties and successes in the story is the working of the Abbey with its daily routines, its yearly festivals, its disciplines and its traditions. The nuns live a life of simplicity and prayer, of strict discipline but of great love and fulfilment.

Like so many other readers, I couldn't put the book down and would agree with those who describe it as Rumer Godden's masterpiece.
16 people found this helpful
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