China Court: The Hours of a Country House

by Rumer Godden

When Tracy, the American-reared granddaughter, returns to China Court on the day after old Mrs. Quin's death, a chain of startling events is set in motion. In one sense this is Tracy's story and the story of the red-haired neighbour, offshoot of a run-down titled family, which has taken over China Court's farm. These two have shared in the grandmother's love of the place, and to them its loss will mean the most. But in order to understand what it meant to them we must know the stories of those who came before, especially of Mrs. Quin herself, who came there as a scorned outsider, loved one man, but married his brother. These and a dozen other delightful relatives live out their daily lives in these pages.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Historical, British Literature, Romance, 20th Century

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Margaret Rumer Godden was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably Black Narcissus in 1947 and The River in 1951.
A few of her works were co-written with her elder sister, novelist Jon Godden, including Two Under the Indian Sun, a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region of India now part of Bangladesh.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

$1.99 on Kindle today!

Rating: 3.875* of five

When I was a youngster, my mother had a lot of books from the 1930s to the 1960s on her shelves. I was allowed to roam freely among them, because she said that if I was old enough to want to read something, I should be able to do so.

As one can imagine, the large majority of a mother's bookshelf wasn't all that appealing to a young boy...Taylor Caldwell, Mary Lasswell, Anya Seton, Kathleen Winsor, and Rumer Godden were all well-represented. I called them, collectively, "snoozer biddies." Lots of long-face about loves lost, and noble sacrifices in the name of love, and mothers Doing Their All for Their Children, and blah blah blah blah.

Forty years later, I picked up China Court at the prompting of memory and the LT connection cloud bringing Rumer Godden's name back up to me. I half-remember some plot points, I do remember thinking that the rest of the snoozer biddies shoulda talked to this lady, she knew her onions comes to writin', and this was a good story.

It's a really good story! I think family sagas always appealed to me, and that's why this book snuck past the general opprobrium of youthful disdain heaped on the other books.

Not everyone in this book is likable, in fact most of them are pretty skeevy...motivated by greed, lust, vengeful meanness, thence to do some extraordinarily good things, and some cruel ones too. It reminded me then, and does also now, of my own family.

China Court is a house. It's not some Stately Manor, it's a big, old-fashioned family house. In the early 1960s, big places like this were in a serious period of desuetude in England. This book chronicles the house and the family's intertwined fates at this now-very-distant moment of crisis. It's structured in echo of the Book of Hours that Mrs. Quin, the last nineteenth-century native to live in the house, treasured and apparently read often. A Book of Hours, for the non-Catholic, divides the day into periods of prayer. Most of us have heard the terms "Lauds" and "Prime" (in the non-Amazon sense) and so forth, but these are just words...the idea of them, their purpose, is to give a reverential and spiritual cast to a person's every day and every act.

Speaking as a practicing anti-Christian, I think this is one of the best, most missed, ideas that modernity has rendered obsolete. I think, if this system of spiritual organization were to be reintroduced, the number of people who *actually* understood the religion they profess would rise exponentially, and I am just optimist enough to hope that there would be a corresponding reduction in the amount of loathsome hate-speech emanating from them.

As a narrative force in this novel, I think it's excellent and inspired. I think Rumer Godden deserves the attention of today's readers for her technical talent, her spiritual message, and her ahead-of-the-curve ideas. I recommend this to you.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My latest obsession, author-wise, is Rumer Godden. I read China Court: The Hours of a Country House in a buddy read with my lovely friend, Megan, who introduced me to Rumer Godden originally by posting her amazing review of The Greengage Summer.

Set in Cornwall, the land of Daphne du Maurier and Ross Poldark, China Court is a novel about five generations of the Quin family and the house they live in. I have never known anyone, except Charles Dickens, who could make a building such a major character in a novel. China Court is, itself, alive; teeming with the history of all it has seen and heard over the years.

As she did in A Fugue in Time, Godden manages to tell the story of all five generations simultaneously, and she does it with such aplomb that there is no confusion, no interruption to the flow of the plot, and a satisfying conviction that you know each and every one of the characters well.

I have been happy in food,’ Mrs Quin is able to say. How ridiculous to find consolation in food, but it is true, and when one is taking those first steps back, bruised and wounded, one can read certain books: Hans Christian Andersen, and the Psalms, Jane Austen, a few other novels. Helped by those things, life reasserts itself, as it must, even when one knows one will be stricken again: Tracy, Stace, Borowis, those are her private deepest names.

We meet them as names, we come to know them as individuals.

Her descriptions are often mesmerizing as she weaves a picture of the gardens, the grounds and the house itself. There is such a sense of place.

Home, too, is in the sight of curtains opened every morning, drawn at evening; in the light through windowpanes; light on polished doorknobs, on the letter box and knocker; it is in cuttings and seed-plots in the garden, and in cats. The China Court cats inherit, one after the other, the sunny windowsill outside the morning room. In spring, the bed below it is planted with wallflowers; the cats lie there half drugged by the heavy sweetness.

The generations are tied together through Mrs. Quin, the current occupant of the house. We look back to her youth, when she is Ripsie, a straggly waif who comes and goes, befriended by the Quin boys and barely tolerated by their mother, Lady Patrick. We also meet her granddaughter, Tracy, displaced by the divorce of her parents and wishing only to have the permanence of “home” that she feels with her grandmother at China Court.

‘Then, is being young wanting what you haven’t?’ asks old Mrs Quin. ‘And being old, accepting what you haven’t? Oh, just for once,’ she cries, ‘I should like to make it come true for somebody young, while they are young,’ but, ‘Crying for the moon,’ Polly would have said and, almost always, ‘Want must be your master,’ says Polly.

Mrs. Quin–Ripsie–is a totally unforgettable character, but not the only one found between the pages of this novel.

For me, the other unforgettable character in this novel is Eliza Quin, a woman trapped by society in a role she resents, but too clever and passionate to fade into the wallpaper as she is expected to do. How she manages to make a life when she has been denied everything necessary to the enrichment of her soul is one of the magical secrets the novel reveals.

Of course, a family of this size and a house of this size do not exist without the staff to keep them running smoothly. One might think that secondary, but even the servants are real and fleshed out and the contrast between the family and the staff adds to our understanding of these lives.

Bursts of laughter sometimes come through the baize door at the end of the passage, bursts instantly hushed; they cannot quite be hushed because the kitchen wing teems with a heady life of talk, gossips, quarrels, laughter. On the house side of the door is silence.

It seems important to me that Ripsie straddles the bridge between the classes–she begins with the servants, barred from entering the house through the front door and never allowed on the front staircase, and she progresses to being the sole master of the house and the servants who remain.

Rumer Godden knows people, inside and out, and she knows what it is to not have choices, to make poor choices, to want what you cannot have, and to love and have that love ignored or rejected. She knows that money is not the answer, and that people can be lonely, even when they are with others.

Homes must know a certain loneliness because all humans are lonely, shut away from one another, even in the act of talking, of loving.

I have found so far that Rumer Godden, even when treating much the same subjects, writes vastly different books. I have not come across a more versatile or skilled writer. It would have been a major accomplishment to have written one such book; I have now read four of them. I am a bit in awe of her and very, very happy that I have many more of her books yet to enjoy.

[Connie G · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Old Mrs Quin died in her sleep in the early hours of an August morning. The sound of the bell came into the house but did not disturb it; it was quite used to death, and birth, and life."

Five generations of the Quin family have lived in China Court. Their home was named for the white clay in the English countryside which was used in making fine porcelain. The home seems like a character--an observer of both the happy and unhappy events in the family for over a century.

The book starts with the death of Mrs Quin (from the middle generation) who has lived a long life. She leaves China Court, an old house with beautiful gardens, and her relatives wonder who will inherit the property.

The novel takes us day by day from Mrs Quin's death through the reading of the will which has some surprising bequests, the funeral, the inventory of the house which holds some secrets, and ending when the heirs take possession of China Court. Through it all, the history of the family is also told. The stories about the servants are as fascinating as those about the family.

Each chapter begins with a quotation from the Book of Hours of Robert Bonnefoy, an antique book loved by Mrs Quin. This book of prayers is going to prove to be important late in the story.

I loved Rumer Godden's descriptions of the house, the gardens, and the characters. The book begins in the mid-19th Century when the daughters had very different lives and expectations compared to the sons in the family. The novel ends with a disturbing event, leading the reader to wonder what the China House will be witnessing in the next generation. This was a wonderful 5-star read!

[Sira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book except for the final two pages. The last scene felt out of place and a bit upsetting after such a beautiful story. I would have given the full five stars if it had ended with the wedding.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book on my shelves for many, many years. I read it a long time ago, it was my introduction to Rumer Godden, and I loved it so much that I promised myself a reread one day. That day finally came after seeing so many GR friends reading this and posting great reviews that reminded me of my promise. In the intervening years, I've read 7 or 8 other books by Godden and never been disappointed. She's a perfect storyteller because she gets out of the way and lets her characters take over.

The main character here is the house itself: China Court. A family saga of 5 generations of lies and love and deceit, generations who walk together through these pages and tell their stories simultaneously, but such is the skill of the author that you understand perfectly well what is going on and when, and who is speaking. An unusual technique, but it works better than a linear tale. Our main character is Ripsie to start out, a waif who doesn't belong, old Mrs. Quinn at the end, the matriarch who straddles the generations. Her death in the first chapter sets things into motion, ultimately deciding the fate of the house, but no more so than unhappy, lonely Eliza who, because of her actions one hundred years in the past, becomes a savior of sorts. I think my favorite character was Cecily, the cook/housekeeper/companion of old Mrs. Quin. She knew more than anyone thought, but also knew when to keep her mouth shut.

Thank you Megan, Sara, Connie, Katherine and the others who posted glowing reviews. It gave me 4 days of reading pleasure, and confirmed my original opinion of a favorite novel.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the days immediately before and after the death of a Cornish matriarch, who knows that, given the chance, her children would sell her beloved home.

That alone would have made me pick up the book, because I love the author, and because I love that this story is set in china clay country; a part of Cornwall that I have rarely read about in fiction, though it is an important part of the county’s history and heritage.

The narrative moves back in time to tell stories of previous generations who lived there, not in the way of most novels that have stories set in different points in time, but in a way that feels completely natural and right. Sometimes a thought, a sound, a sight can spark a memory can stir a memory; sometimes of just a moment of time and sometimes of a whole story of people, places and incidents long past.

That is exactly the way this book works. Rumer Godden did this same thing in an earlier work, A Fugue in Time, and in this book she works with more characters, more history, and – I think – rather more refinement.

I was captivated with the story of the elderly matriarch, who was cared for by a lady not a great deal younger who had been her companion; by the story of a granddaughter she called to her side, who had loved the house as a child but had not been there for many years, as when her mother was widowed she had decided to return to her native America, and pick up the threads of her career as an actress; and by the story that played out when daughters returned, with husbands in tow, to look over what they thought was their rightful inheritance.

That story became so real to me, and so did many stories from the past. I’m thinking of Eustace and Adza, who bought the house and established the dynasty. I’m thinking of Lady Patrick, the daughter of a wealthy and aristocratic family who eloped with the son of the house and struggled with her changed circumstances, her faithless husband and two young sons. At first I couldn’t warm to her, but as I learned more of her story I came to empathise with her. And I am thinking of the wonderful Eliza, who seemed to be cast as the spinster daughter, and who overcame her anger about her situation to set the course of her own life, by insisting that her brother formalised her position as housekeeper and by pursuing her own interests – especially the books that she loved dearly – when her time was her own.

It felt quite natural to move between all of those different stories. When I bought my book I had made sure that I had a family tree to refer to, but I didn’t need it for very long at all’ such was the skill of the author at bringing the house and its occupants to life.

She wrote so beautifully, she picked up exactly the right details, and it really did seem that she had walked through that house, unseen, among all of those different generations; understanding the pull of – the importance of – China Court, as a home and for its own sake.

There was such skill in construction of the story and in the telling of the tale. The present was written in the past tense and the past was written in the present tense, which might sound odd but it was wonderfully effective; and I loved the way the two could switch, sometimes even in the same sentence, feeling completely natural and right.

One character had a story in the present and the past. Ripsie was a child from the village and she became the constant companion of Lady Patrick’s two sons, Borowis and John Henry, while they played outside but as they grew up she found that she was often excluded from their world. Because she had fallen in loved with Borowis, who was brave and spirited, she clung on. When she finally realised that he didn’t love her and that he didn’t even see her as someone who had a place in his world, the steady and sensible John Henry was there to catch her before she fell. They married, and when Ripsie became the lady of the manor she slipped into the role so easily that she could have been born to it.

I’m reluctant to pick a favourite from so many wonderful characters and stories, but I think I have to say that I loved Ripsie and her story the best of all; both for her own sake and for what it said about the best and worst of society and of human nature.

The antique Book of Hours that she treasured and kept with her always provided headings for each chapter; a lovely reminder of the spirituality that is threaded through so many of Rumer Godden’s books, a lovely thing in its own right, and as I came to the end of the book I realised that it was also an integral part of the story.

I also realised that the author had chosen the pieces of the history of the family and the history of the house that she would share carefully and cleverly; to illuminate the past, and to show how the past can shape the present and the future.

I did miss the other pieces of history that weren’t shared; and though I understand that not everything could be told, the characters I met and the stories that I learned are so alive in my mind that want to know and understand more.

My only other disappointment was the ending. The reading of the will, the fallout from that, the discoveries that were made, were all wonderful; but there was just one thing that I couldn’t quite believe, the resolution of that was rushed, and the very final scene was unsettling and has not dated well.

There were so many more things that I loved, and those are the things that have stayed with me since I put the book down.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“At China Court, loved things were not thrown away.”

If you’ve ever had the experience of disposing of family heirlooms after the death of loved-ones, you may relate to this novel. I have been there--more than once. It’s uniquely painful to spend time assessing the whole of someone’s possessions, many bringing up dreams never reached and hope that remained until that very last minute, now passed. Our things are so much more than things, and our homes are so much more than four or more walls. They hold volumes. Rumer Godden understood this well.

“'To keep’ had become for Tracy the most important verb in the English language. ‘And it isn’t only possessive … It means to watch over, take care of, maintain.’”

China Court is a home that holds a family, a family that began with Eustace and Adza who moved there in the mid 1800’s, stretching out to the youngest grandchild Tracy, and taking us to 1960. Godden structures her story around the family’s heirloom Book of Hours, using the divisions as chapter headings: Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline, Matins. It begins with the current occupant, Mrs. Quin; her death and then her life, as we’re taken back and forth and back again in time.

The wealth of characters seems daunting at first, but they take shape quickly. Godden hints at the outcomes of each of these family members as she introduces them, but far from spoilers, these are more like teasing bits of gossip, and you are propelled through, hoping to get the full story on each of their dramas and heartbreaks. What starts as names on a family tree (thankfully included inside the book cover) fill into individual strands in a complex web of life.

The dramas vary, but each life has heartbreak. Mrs. Quin seems to be saying it’s all what you make of it.

“Even when one is stricken, much remains; often creature things: drinking good tea from a thin porcelain cup; hot baths; the smell of a wood fire, the warmth of firelight and candlelight. The sound of a stream can be consolation, thinks Mrs. Quin, or the shape of a tree; even stricken, she can enjoy those.”

This is such an unusual book. In many ways it was like Godden’s A Fugue in Time, another book that seemed written just for me. I didn’t think it was possible, but I may have enjoyed this even more. Her characters and themes felt even deeper in this one, and the stark line between happiness and unhappiness seemed more blurred, a truth we recognize as we grow older.

“'All unhappiness,’ says Mrs. Quin, ‘as you live with it, becomes shot through with happiness; it cannot help it; and all happiness, I suppose, is shot through with unhappiness.’”

[Kavita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another story about a house! I saw this rated pretty highly on a Goodreads friend's shelf, and since we have very similar tastes, I picked it up. I wasn't disappointed. The story follows five generations of the Quin family. One reason I enjoyed this book immensely was because the female Quins weren't just written out once they grew up.

So Eustace and Adza marry and have several children, who provided the most interesting characters for the book. The next generation is mostly come down from just one branch and represented in the present time. The final link in the chain is Tracy, who is obsessed with the house. China Court is not a mansion and is unconnected with any of those large estates. It, however, has a farm, which is given over to an outcast member of the other big family in the area.

The story starts off with Ripsie Quin dying. From there, the author takes us on a long journey of the house and its inhabitants over several decades. But the narrative is in no way chronological. Godden not just plays around with the timelines, she also jumps around with the characters. It is a very hard book to read and I was heartily bored at the beginning. I am glad that I stuck with it, though. Once I got used to the writing style, I was able to follow the story and the characters quite well, and was able to enjoy the book.

The story revolves around Ripsie, a village girl, enamoured by the house and its boys, especially the elder one. She is not accepted by the family and is forced to meet the boys only out of the house. When they grow up, they are naturally expected to marry one of their kind. The elder complies, but the younger, having been in love with Ripsie all his life, marries her. They have children, who are depicted but not really represented in the story. Her grandchild, Tracy, is however another character on which the story revolves.

Ripsie is by far the most uninteresting character in the book, only outdone by her granddaughter, Tracy. Tracy is the epitome of boring and uninteresting. Frankly, her great aunts decades ago had more spirit and wider interests than this stupid woman. Not only does she attach so much importance to a stupid house, she agrees to the unacceptable conditions of her insufferable grandmother just to keep it. Another annoying character is Peter, who appears to be benign at the beginning, but becomes completely evil by the end, for no reason that I could fathom. The last pages were confusing and added absolutely nothing to the story.

The most intriguing characters were in the middle generation. Eliza, Lady Patrick, Anne, and Jared had fascinating stories. I especially loved Eliza, who suffered harshly from the strictures placed on women, but in the end, found a passion that enabled her to throw off the shackles imposed upon her by society. Lady Patrick had such immense pride that even as a woman, she was able to stand her ground when she was betrayed. Anne was another fascinating character, though I would have enjoyed more of her.

Overall, despite Tracy, Ripsie, and Peter, I enjoyed reading major chunks of the book. It has also left me wanting more of Godden.

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

This was too experimental a book to read through the wonderful Open Library service. I don't know if Americans can still download their books on to their kindles but I can't. (to clarify, I never could) & on Open Library the book jacket flap was photographed blocking part of the family tree! I know Ms Godden was hoping most people wouldn't need to refer to the family tree, but I would have found it helpful & I was very confused at the start.

Once the book got going I found Tracy's story very heartwarming & there was a lot for a book collector/lover to enjoy. Her ancestors were wonderful personalities!

I didn't like the ending though. Not so much because of the slap but because it was so awkwardly written. To me it felt like Ms Godden had become bored with the story.

Not an essential Godden but still worth reading!

[Abigail Bok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can a single moment ruin the entire experience of a book? I wouldn't have said so before reading this one, but now...

China Court is the story of a house. It is also the story of the generations of a single family who lived in the house, but the house is the principal character. China Court (the house) is the home of the Quin family of Cornwall, a middle-class family of comfortable means but no social distinction. This in-between position isolates them from their neighbors both high and low, and each generation is marked by this separateness. Some go away, never to be fully part of the house's life again; some rage against being trapped there; and a lucky few find their soul through subsuming themselves into the house's life.

If that makes this book sound like some kind of spooky horror story, I have misled you. The house is a large but rather ordinary one, but the lives lived there over the generations have given it a life of its own, a life richly rewarding to the family members and servants but only if they have the commonsense to embrace it. Its contents, its rhythms, its sounds and scents are described in lyrical, loving detail, bringing it to life for the reader. By comparison, the lives of the people are revealed in a nonlinear, almost scattershot fashion, being important only as they reveal more about the house.

All of this I loved, and I admired the masterful writing that kept me wrapped up in the world Rumer Godden wove. The present tense often erupts into the narrative, giving a timelessness to details large and small. This is an inventive and interesting book, for all its conventional language. And I fell in love with some of the characters, especially the outsider Ripsie, who is in many ways the heart and soul of the house even if the only place she can make her own mark is outdoors, in the garden.

But then--a conventional plot device of pulp fiction comes into the (for Godden) present-day portion of the tale. The artificiality of it gave me pause, just a frisson of anxiety over where we were headed. And then the final scene smashed in and may have ruined it all for me. I have never been a fan of the bodice-ripper genre, and when a previously rational man goes caveman all of a sudden it leaves me stone cold and I start screaming at the heroine to start running and keep going. I know I am coming to the book with the perspective of a twenty-first-century reader and I shouldn't judge the mores of an earlier age, but the ending just left an ugly taste in my mouth and I can't get it out. Maybe read to the 96 percent mark and leave it at that, if you really want to appreciate the loveliness of this book.

[Megan Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will forever be thankful that on a dreary December day at the end of 2022, I randomly picking up a copy of ‘The Greengage Summer’ (chiefly because of a nice sounding title ☺️) as it is introduced me to the wonderful versatility and writing skill of its author - Rumer Godden . After finishing China Court, I know I can now call her one of my ‘go to’ authors who will always deliver an absorbing and fulfilling reading experience.

Like ‘A Fugue In Time’ there were multiple time lines involving five generations of the ‘Quinn’ family and it’s numerous staff living in China Court in Cornwall, from the mid 1840s to the present, which was early 1960s. It was a little more linear in its story telling than ‘AFIT’ but I personally preferred this slightly more direct approach. Each character is so expertly portrayed and although I had my favourites, particularly Old Mrs Quinn, (who is known as Ripsie in her youth) I grew to empathise with them all - we learn that each had strengths as well as their weaknesses and the story unfolds in such a way that you can sympathise and understand the complexity of different relationships throughout the various generations.

There are plenty of twists and turns, dual storylines and reoccurring themes, especially of the female characters wanting to change the circumstances of their lives- (special mention of dear Eliza here who finds her solace in books, an intriguing sideline plot indeed!)The format of storytelling keeps you guessing which makes it all the more enjoyable and a fulfilling read.

The prose is stunning, so vivid and will appeal to any reader who loves the rugged landscape and beauty of Cornwall. I had the pleasure of this being me first buddy read with Sara, whose book choice this was. It made the read an even more enjoyable event and reminds me of literature’s wonderful way of bringing readers together to share an experience of a different time and place. I have no hesitation in recommending China Court and feel delighted that I still have so many of Godden’s books to explore - 5 well deserved⭐️

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a mixed bag; in places heart-rending - so sad, and the descriptions of the house and garden so vivid and completely real, I could reconstruct them in my mind. I can think of the white rhododendrons seen from one of the drawing room windows, and as the sun sets - the house faces west, the flowers turn a shimmering shade of pink. There is a special wicket gate at the bottom of the slope that separates the field from the woods and the stream, above the field is the kitchen garden and separating the kitchen garden from the gardens around the house is a low stone wall against which Mrs Quin has grown a great line of sweet-peas - all the possible shades of the flowers are listed - it's really beautiful.

One of the members of our group referred us all to a website which listed a YouTube video - and the two women on this video had a channel called Comfort Reads - they waxed lyrical about the homeyness of this book; about the details of candlelight and lamplight, of women and girls making dresses, hand-sewing everything.

I feel like listing all of the atrocities that happened to the Quin Brood - especially all the young girls that are born to Eustace and Adza.

Look away now if you don't want to read spoilers:
Eliza is stoned to death by the village people - they think she is a witch because she visits the graveyard in the night and talks to her guide the old Jeremy Baxter
Damaris kills herself aged 18 after a marriage she is forced into. When she explains to the rich Mr King Lee, he says, I love you and that is enough.
Anne disappears - takes herself off to China to be a missionary - the family never hear from her again.
Mary marries the doctor's assistant - and that's the end of her story.
Two of Adza's children (girls) die in infancy - diptheria
A boy - Little Eustance dies aged 15
Jared - dies of a heart-attack, aged 47
His wife Lady Patrick - dies aged 44 - she married Jared aged 18 and discovers he will bed any pretty girl his eye rests on - so she has no further relations with him - aged 21.
The other son - Mcleod the 2nd - disappears to China to work with the uncle who has founded a clay production - hence the famille rose plates. He; horror of unmentionable horrors has taken a concubine.

So, that is the nine children in the first generation.
Further agonies - We move to Mrs Quin's story - she marries John Henry who is the second son of Jared and Lady Patrick, - not Borowis, the one she loves. Borowis dies young - in the Boer War, 1900.

Stace, Mrs Quin's beloved only son is killed in the second World War - aged 44, but there is a granddaughter, Tracy.

I felt like listing all those tragedies, because I cannot for the life of me fathom why China Court might be classified as Comfort Reading.

The death of Eliza is written in an elliptical way - which means it is not spelt out for us, but when you add the pieces together that is what has happened. Stones have been thrown; because she travels around Cornwall by herself, the villagers decide she must be a witch. And she's not married -and the churchyard visits. It is the price of breaking with convention and the fate of many spinster women, in the past.

Despite all this I enjoyed the book, especially the story when Eliza discovers Jeremy Baxter, an old alcoholic who works as an accountant for her father, Eustace, who pays him 12 pounds a year. Baxter stays because he has access to the books - in the house. Baxter is also a fellow of Trinity college Oxford. He has studied Medieval literature and knows Greek, Latin, Anglo-Saxon and Old French. (I suspect Baxter is an incarnation of Sir John Betjeman, to whom the book is dedicated.)

I know that Rumer Godden is interested in Medieval literature because of this character, but also from the title of another book by her - The Lady and the Unicorn which refers to a famous Medieval tapestry. To my mind this means that Godden's book is examining the structures put into place in the medieval period; the formal use of Marriage as a means to consolidate power for a feudal Lord or to form alliances. And the law of primogeniture - which states that only the first son can inherit. These structures form the basis of Godden's book.

Borowis (Jared's son) cannot marry Ripsie/Mrs Quinn because Ripsie is a no-name illegitimate child of the village. He must marry into status, property and money and so he chooses Isabel.

I think it is Dick - who points out to all the family members that as Tracy is the daughter of the oldest offspring of Mrs Quin, her son Stace; it follows therefore, that Tracy is in fact the legal heir over and above her four aunts who are the younger sisters of Stace. Stace would have inherited China Court - but he is dead. And so a daughter inherits.

Lady Patrick defies the conventions of her day, which means that she marries against her parents wishes and makes the worst mistake of her life. She is the daughter of an Irish Earl and most clearly destined for a higher rank that Jared of China Court. Over and over again, our narrator Mrs Quin makes the distinction that China Court is not a great house, it is simply a big house, and a family home. Eustace and Adza are given the house by Eustace's Uncle Mcleod who has made a fortune overseas. They build China Court in 1840. The Big Family in the area are the St. Omers of Tremellen - but they lose their great house - a fortune fluttered away, until Peter St. Omer has no capital at all, and has to rely on the good opinion and small monies that Mrs Quin can provide to help him restock and rebuild the estate's farm, Penbarrow.

I thought the book was wonderful from many points of view. There were so many references to other books.

When Eliza stumbles across Jeremy Baxter in her father's office he is reading Boethius in Latin -
The Consolation of Philosophy. (Boethius is a Roman philosopher and statesman). Eliza asks Jeremy, "but why are you wasting your time here, you could be a great scholar?" And Baxter replies "I drink" - but he expands on this to say that he also has quiet and free time in which to think.

He points out that Chaucer translated the book he is reading - Consolations of Philosophy, 1532 and Eliza says - but I thought Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales. He did and other things besides.

He also quizzes Eliza on her knowledge of Dante; "Surely even this house has read Dante?" and confirms she knows nothing. It's possibly the most delightful section in the whole book. And it is also central to the plot, because it is poor Eliza, plain, with long nose, destined never to marry who saves the future of China Court. The books she discovers and travels to buy from all over Cornwall, are precious and rare items. For example Pamela by Samuel Richardson - in Eliza's notebook it says "4 vols. First Edition, 8vo, 1741 - 42."

Or "Cessolis (Jacobson) The game and playe of the chesse. 1476 Leather Bound , translated by William Caxton, folio. Printed at Westminster by William Caxton about 1483, second edition, read Mr Alabaster. He took out the two next to it and his hands trembled as he took them both back to the table. The first edition of The Faerie Queene and, as far as he could see, complete and unblemished."

Godden's novel although often appreciated as a realistic depiction of a Victorian house and family, is also a fantastic history of Books. If you love books, then you will enjoy the background and listings and valuations of many books, and other printed materials. Including a reference to the "What Katy Dids." I loved that. What Katy Did. " . . . and tattered copies of Little Women, Good Wives, and Jo's Boys". All books are valuable says Rumer Godden.

I think I will end with a translation of the Latin that Baxter was reading:

Quaenam discordia foedera rerum causa resoluit?
What cause of discord has dissolved the bond of things?

Quis tanta Deus . . .
What God is so great . . .

Nunc membrorum conditus in unum totum est oblita sui summamque tenet, singula perdens.
Now the parts joined into one have forgotten their own nature and hold to the whole, losing individuality.

Igitur quisquis vera requirit neutro est habitu . . .
Therefore, whoever seeks truth is not in a neutral state. . .

I think that is so wonderful. In the final scene when Tracy and Peter embrace, Tracy thinks: "Then we are the two halves of a whole."

Apparently Boethius was writing his consolations whilst in prison, awaiting execution. He explores themes of fate, free will, and the nature of good and evil. And I think that is a good summation of Godden's book. Definitely not a Comfort Read, or rather it's not all pretty flowers and mahogany furniture.

Here is a passage that I felt was very beautiful:

In spite of his sadness, of knowing what must happen those two words every day seemed that morning to Peter the most beautiful in the world, heartlessly beautiful when he thought that for Mrs. Quin these were not every days but the last. Tomorrow, or the next day perhaps, they will bury her, thought Peter. He could not believe it. The marigolds along the kitchen-garden path brushed dew on his gaiters-he, as she did, liked boots and gaiters better than gumboots-the sun shone on the dew, drawing out sparkles, throwing long shadows; he had never seen the garden look so alive, thought Peter. It should have been gray, shrouded for this last day. That was written now in capitals in his mind: LAST DAY, but smoke was going up from the chimneys; the kitchen fire was lit. It was like a calm message from the house; last days too are every day, said the message.

Peter who wants to keep the farm he has worked every daylight hour on and then some, knows that it will probably be sold as will the house, with the death of Mrs Quin - and so the story begins.

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

China Court is largely the story of the house of that name, and five generations of the Quin family who live there. They have made their money through the china clay quarry they own, hence the name.

It starts with the death of Mrs Quin, the matriarch of the family, and the days following, but it's not a linear narrative, so it jumps around in time, using the memories of the various characters to tell the stories of the family. This is probably a pretty risky stategy, and it means there are a lot of characters to keep in mind, but they soon become distinct and it is a lot less confusing than it sounds. I found it surprisingly compelling, especially the contemporary story with the family gathering in the house for the reading of the will. That part of the novel reminded me very much of All Passion Spent.

I was a bit disappointed by the very end of the book, the last scene seemed very out of character, but overall it was a great story and one I will re-read at some point.

[ꕥ Ange_Lives_To_Read ꕥ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

I couldn't even give this my "50 page" test. China Court is written in the stream-of-consciousness style that I dislike the most: the author believes it's artistic and literary to throw characters and sentences and images randomly on the page, with no introduction, chronology, or context; and it is my job to figure out what the hell is going on.

I'm very disappointed because if I was able to locate the story, it seems like something I would have enjoyed.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're the kind of person who froths at the mouth whenever you see a beautiful home being torn town to make room for condos, you need to read China Court. It's the story of a young girl's efforts to save her grandmother's home in the Cornish countryside. There's a bit of time travel involved with this book; Godden skips between generations to show everything the home has witnessed over the years. And while this can be confusing, it's a technique that ultimately pays off.

The resolution to this story literally made me gasp -- it's so daring, I loved it! This is among my favorite Rumer Godden books, and considering I love them all, that says a lot.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Preface to this novel, the author gives the reader some advice:

China Court is a novel about five generations of a family, so that, as in real life, there are many names and personalities, but I believe if the reader is a little patient - and can bear not to skip - they will soon become distinct and he will have no need to look at the family tree included at the end.

Well, I did look at the family tree 'included at the end' several times in the course of reading this story, but in the main, the author is correct. Eventually, the different personalities and generations become distinct. However, a good deal of patience is required to truly enjoy this book because it doesn't unfold as a straightforward narrative.

The first lines of the book are this:

Old Mrs Quin died in her sleep in the early hours of an August morning. The sound of the bell came into the house but did not disturb it; it was quite used to death, and birth, and life.

There is a linear narrative to the book: it begins with the matriarch Mrs. Quin's death, progresses to her funeral and the will reading, briefly devolves into an unexpected mystery involving a long ago daughter of the house, and ends in marriage and new ownership of the house. However, the bulk of the story goes back and forth in time; the previous inhabitants of the house, China Court, are not so much ghosts as part of the very fabric of the house. The narrative shows how the life of the house is made of the work of many hands, and there is repetition within that constant change. The happinesses and tragedies of the Quin family are gradually pieced together, but these revelations are by no means chronological. Some dramas and personalties imprint themselves more strongly than others.

There is another structure to the story, too: the eight canonical hours of the day. A Book of Hours is a beloved possession of Mrs Quin's, found in her hand when she dies, and it is used as a plot device in more ways than one. In the most obvious sense, though, the Book of Hours becomes a way of organising the chapters: Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline and Matins. The linear structure of the storyline unfolds against the echoes of the past.

There doesn't seem much point in getting specific about any of the characters other than Mrs. Quin, whose death precipitates a changeover in ownership of the house. This really is the story of a house - not so much a 'great' house as a substantial one. At one point, the house is part of a much larger estate: quarry, china clay works and farm. As the 20th century progresses, and the local Cornish economy changes, and male heirs die in wars (Boer, World War I and II), the house undergoes changes as well. Most of Mrs Quin's heirs see the house as hopelessly old-fashioned, a 'white elephant', too big and too expensive to keep going. In many ways, the story of China Court is the story of many great and substantial houses in the UK in the 20th century. Ultimately, though, this is a story about renewal and regeneration. China Court still has its share of hours, even though the future is only hinted at.

I think the thing to do with a book like this is to read it once and then read it again. The first time, in order to make its acquaintance; the second, to settle into a deeper friendship.

Note: this book was briefly mentioned in Novel Houses, and that's when it first came to my attention. Soon after, a friend - who knows of my fondness for 'house' stories and family sagas - recommended it to me.

[Elinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was so much to love about this book -- the old English house, called China Court because its owners made their fortune mining the special clay used to produce china -- plus three generations of fascinating family members. Unfortunately most of them led unhappy lives, until the youngest granddaughter makes an appearance. Her parents were divorced and she was taken away at an early age by her mother, but she cherishes her childhood memories of China Court and loves it just as much as does her grandmother, Mrs. Quin.
Like other reviewers, I was shocked at an incident in the final chapter which is definitely NOT acceptable by today's standards, but it didn't ruin the book for me. I especially loved the descriptions of the house, food, clothing, garden, and old books in the library. For me, the trappings of domesticity are always appealing in a novel.

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this 1960 novel Godden tells the story of 5 generations of the Quin family during the 120-year period they resided at their Cornwall estate. The events of the story occur at the estate, called China Court, where the family operates a farm, quarry and china-clay works.

The story’s initial and primary setting is contemporary to when it was written. However, Godden returns to the technique she used back in 1946’s A Fugue in Time (AFIT) and tells this contemporary story interwoven with stream of consciousness flashbacks to events in the two previous generations of Quin family history.

Godden offers a Family tree where she identifies ‘The Brood’ as a 1st Generation, 2nd Generation and 3rd Generation of Quins, with all three generations having a storyline. Godden adds in Eustace and Adza, the parents of the 1st Generation brood and Tracy, the daughter of a 3rd Generation member, into that generations storyline so that the three storylines involve the 5 generations of the Quin family.

Additionally, each of the three storylines is not confined to one linear timeline either, as each time change may flashback to a different event and child in that generation's storyline. Much of the plot and character development occurs during these flashbacks. The plot involves family and sibling dynamics, two romances and the importance of continuing on with China Court itself.

The two primary protagonists are Ripsie, aka Mrs. Quin, who became a Quin when she married a 2nd Generation male member, and Tracy, the daughter of the only male member of the 3rd Generation. The 1st Generation storyline flips between several members of what is the largest of the generations involved, though it ultimately focuses on son Jared and his wife Lady Patrick, as they provided both members of the 2nd Generation ‘brood.’

The non-linear storytelling gave the plot a wondrously pleasing degree of mystery, expectation and discovery as past events key to understanding present day events are slowly revealed. Godden superbly handles the stream of consciousness-based interweaving time frame. She can shift scenes between timeframes abruptly yet so smoothly that the transitions seemed seamless. Once you get the family members’ names down, it is easy to quickly grasp which time frame is within each shift. I really enjoyed keeping track of the various storylines and often found myself hopefully waiting for the next time shift. The time-flipping style made the plot more fascinating and enjoyable than my usual reading experience.

My appreciation and ease with the time-flipping style was aided by my having read AFIT and knowing what to expect from this novel. I don’t think I would have enjoyed my China Court reading experience as much as I did if I hadn’t had the experience I gained from reading AFIT. I did enjoy China Court more as I thought Godden handled the character development and scene-shifting more deftly and smoothly than in AFIT. I also preferred the Ripsie/Tracy older/younger protagonists in this novel over the similarly situated Lark/Grizel protagonists of AFIT.

China Court also had great pacing. The early section has more ordinary events as the focus is on letting the reader get to know the characters. Then the middle brings some exciting plot events that get the reader anxious for more. The final section, even with the disturbing last few pages, did resolve most of the questions raised in the storylines.

This novel also had me engage in some welcome personal reflection while reading. The story prompted my thoughts to often drift to my own family home of 35 years, which we had built to our specs. Each year I become more and more appreciative of the idea of retaining it rather than ‘going condo,’ to help foster the family bond with our three sons and grandchildren. I know I love spending time in the house I grew up in from 1958, a house that my youngest brother now owns. It still feels like my home too.

A novel that prompts such personal reflection is a truly effective one. When you add in the rewarding and more challenging-than-usual reading experience and a story with attractive protagonists and you have a novel that deserves somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. I spent most of the second half of the book definitely leaning toward 5 stars. But then came the surprising, disappointing and disturbing last few pages.

After reflecting on it for two days, I’ve determined that the book’s ending few pages don’t outweigh the wonderful reading experience of the previous 300+ pages. I rate it as 5 stars. After even further reflection, I now think the ending is a meritorious one as it makes the reader think more deeply about what he had previous read about certain character traits, plot events and contemplate possible prognoses for the future.

[Jenni Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rumer Godden was born in England in 1907. She grew up in India and returned to England as an adult, dying in Scotland in 1998. It is a mystery to me why I didn’t discover her long ago. As with so many good authors, she was recommended by a literary friend. As she said, Godden’s book China Court (first published in 1960) is the best example of the use of flashbacks in a novel that she has ever read. How I agree. China Court is a big—but not grand—house in Cornwall and this is the story of five generations of the family, including the servants, who lived in it. The story covers a time-span from about the 1830s to 1960. The central character is Mrs. Quin who knew all five generations, beginning when she was a small girl on the outside looking in—and in love with the dashing grandson of the elderly owners. She marries the rather solid brother of the dashing grandson and we get to know the aunts and uncles, her children and finally her granddaughter. Like all good literary fiction, the end of the book is a reflection of the beginning. In fact the beginning and end are both of Mrs. Quin’s death, and in between we are dropped seamlessly in and out of generations of births, marriages, deaths and everything that makes a family a family. The writing is lyrical. “Home is very much in the smell of a house; at China Court the smell is always of smoke, peat and woodsmoke; of flowers, polish, wine and lavender; of wet wool from the outdoor coats, the drab smell of gumboots and galoshes, and earlier, of dubbin rubbed into gaiters; and of gun oil and of paraffin for the lamps. On Mondays the prevailing smell is of soap and water, boiling and steam; on Wednesdays of baking. That is perhaps the best smell; when the bread-oven door is opened, the scent of hot loaves fills all the house.” (p46). For Mrs. Quin memories are often gathered together by like rather than by time or generation; the memory of one marriage blends into another, the telling of one daughter’s rebellion becomes the story of another in another generation. It is masterfully done, so that the passing of time is secondary to the stories and the people; it is as if they are all encompassed by the house simultaneously. How grounding this lovely book is in the contemporary world of moving forward and getting on and throwing out.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mine was a yellow paged oldie, with taped binding and a thick rubber band holding the ILL tags and the hardcover (supplemented with repair thickness)intact and flat. I was surprised they sent this book through the transport van system as it needed gentle. But I'm glad they did.

And it wasn't long- maybe about 25 pages- that I remembered I had read it before. Many, many, many years ago. But I remembered John Henry and Ripsy very well. And I read it again, and enjoyed it again.

Lots of layers and rather a puzzle you need to work outwords- like a jigsaw type. Putting everyone in their place and time! But the house is the backdrop, the support- always there. And it is written within the sensibilities of a past worldview, as well. LOVE that aspect- as most historical fiction of the last 15 years is written within entirely revisionist judgment and outlook. Which really makes it fairly phony, IMHO.

Very clever book in its convolution of the generations, as well. Really nails the location and the mores of this family and their shared society. But makes you work for it. And in the process the personal and detail complexity becomes revealed- deeply too, at times.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this novel, and I think it may end up being one of my top reads of the year. I have realized recently how much new favorite novels earn a place on that list because I say to myself: "Hmm, I don't understand what is happening here, but I know it's worthy of a re-read." There was a lot of that happening in China Court because it is so complex and multi-layered. I used to see not understanding something as a disadvantage in a novel. As I grow older and life itself grows more complex and multi-layered and mysterious and my capacity to dwell in nuance grows, I see novels like this as an invitation to contemplation. As Elliott Holt wrote in a recent NY Times article about reading the same poem every day for a month: "Repetition leads to revelation."

This is a fascinating novel structurally. Rumer Godden moves seamlessly between the generations of Quins (the family surname) living in the big family house of China Court in Cornwall from 1840 when Eustace and Adza Quin first move to the house to the "present day" in 1960 when Mrs. Quin has died and her will is being read. The only novel I can think of that is like it (that I've read) is To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and I found China Court much easier to follow, likely because it has many tactile details about the house and garden and the people who live there over the years whereas I found Woolf's writing more esoteric.

I love that books play a crucial role in the plot of the novel in several ways. For example, Godden chose to structure her novel around The Book of Hours, which is an illuminated monastic book divided into the Latin names of the monks' prayer times throughout the 24 hours of a single day. Each section of the book has the title of a prayer time, e.g. Lauds, and a description of an illuminated scene from the Book of Hours, which is a beloved book of Mrs. Quin's (the main character of the novel, I would argue). I love this because I was on a monastic retreat in college where we kept a monastic schedule with Lauds, Prime, Tierce (or Terce), Sext, None, Vespers, Compline, and Matins and learned about the history of Christian spirituality. I love that this concept and this practice is interwoven into the bones of the novel. This is one of the things that I want to pay attention to on subsequent re-readings.

Spoilers from here on. :)

The monastic bones of the book and the primary role of the house, China Court, reminded me so much of Elizabeth Goudge's novels. Both Godden and Goudge have a deep, mystic sense of Christian spirituality and sacramentality. With both, the stuff of the earth and the basic rhythm of being human are means of God's grace. China Court (or Damerosehay in Goudge's Eliot novels) is not just a house. It's a haven that shelters and nurtures the people who live there. This is why the antagonists in the story are Mrs. Quin's children, especially Walter and Bella, who see the house strictly as a drain on resources, a white elephant to get rid of as soon as possible. It is simply utilitarian to them, so it's so satisfying when Tracy inherits the house. She loves the house as it is, flaws and all and becomes the true child of the house.

I love Mrs. Quin's clearsightedness. As a former outsider to the house as the girl Ripsie, Mrs. Quin, by marrying John Henry after Borowis' death, becomes the ultimate insider: the protector of the house and its legacy. I love that Mrs. Quin's name is Deborah. This brought to mind for me the biblical character of Deborah from Judges who is herself a judge. Deborah Quin takes on the role of judge in her will. She arbitrates who receives the house (the Promised Land, in a way) and who does not. Peter is also a fitting recipient of the gift of the house because he loves the farm that is part of the house and has worked the farm with humility and fortitude.

I love that Godden's characters in this novel are well rounded. Bella, Walter, the Graces, and their husbands come the closest to being the story's antagonists, but there are a couple redemptive scenes towards the end of the book that I think are crucial. The first is when everyone is searching the house for the rare books. The second is when the four aunts (Bella and the three Graces) come together to find a wedding dress for Tracy among the saved wedding dresses of past generations. I thought the second scene was especially touching.

I love Eliza's character. She is so complex and her storyline has such delicious irony. As a Victorian woman who was forced by society and her family (her father, especially) into a certain mold of femininity, I love that she stumbled into a way to be her own independent woman, albeit by swindling her father and brother. And it's that very swindling that saves China Court! Ah, it's just so clever and nuanced. Of course I wish that Eliza had found a different, more upright path, but her storyline causes us as readers to rage against the conventions of her time that kept her wings clipped.

Lady Patrick and Jared are both challenging characters as well. I don't know that Jared ever had that moment of redemption, but Lady Patrick certainly does when she leaves the monastery to come back to China Court in the hope that Jared will receive her. That was the most heart-breaking scene of the story. (Even more than Damaris' death and later Eliza's death.) I love the few brief conversations between Lady Patrick and her priest-confessor, Father Blackwell (funny because that is a famous Oxford bookstore). There is a sense of tragedy about Jared and Lady Patrick and later about Borowis.

The love triangle between Borowis, Ripsie, and John Henry was the one part of the story that I rolled my eyes at some. It's a common plot and it bothers me when a girl loves a guy who is so obviously not good husband material. Give them two years of marriage and it would be another Jared and Lady Patrick: estranged and full of regret. There is a sense in which Mrs. Quin never gets over her love for Borowis, which is the annoying weakness of her well-rounded character. I do like that John Henry and Ripsie end up married though and it seems to have been a good fit overall. Borowis reminded me so much of Edward from Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher.

The other troubling moment of the book is at the very end in the evening of Peter and Tracy's wedding day. I know it is troubling to a modern reader, but I think to read it with modern sensibilities is to mis-read it. It's one thing to have a wedding. It's another thing to face the wedding night and the intimacy of both the marriage bed and of marriage as a whole. I think Godden describes the tension for Peter and Tracy so well, especially because there is a lot at stake with their marriage. They were on a track to completely miss out on that intimacy and something had to break the tension, had to force them to each other instead of away from each other. Of course, I would have it be anything other than Peter's raised hand against Tracy. However, the force the interaction and the broken beloved china ornament does drive them to each other and so the book ends with a coming together (not explicit) that is crucial for the happiness of Tracy and Peter's marriage and of future generations. Indeed, the book ends with a tremendous amount of hope that the Quin family will continue with Tracy's children, a whole new set of children to be sheltered and nurtured by the aged loveliness of China Court. Throughout the book, there is a strong sense that Tracy and Peter are a good match, and I believe in their happiness.

I also love that a book full of sacramentality ends with the mystery and sacrament of marriage with the two becoming one flesh. And that foreshadows the second coming of Christ when another marriage will take place between Christ and his bride, the Church. There is so much richness there to contemplate, both in the novel and in the Christian faith.

The writing is exquisite as well. There are passages that read like poetry: the diction and the word choice is so precise, so evocative. I really think this book is a masterpiece.

[Kirsty · Rating 2 out of 5]

China Court is part of a newly reissued series of Godden’s novels, printed by Virago. This particular novel is dedicated to the famous English poet John Betjeman, and was first published in the early 1960s. It tells the tale of the Quin family, who have been inhabitants of a large house named China Court for several generations.

Tracy Quin, the daughter of a film star, is the youngest member of the Quin family. She has been brought up on various film sets around the world, and has finally tried to put down roots in China Court in Cornwall following the death of her grandmother. The story more or less opens with Tracy and her mother, and then follows other individuals from different generations of the family. Whilst this idea is an interesting one, it has not been written or executed in such a way that renders the story difficult to put down, or even makes it clear.

The Quin family which Tracy descends from is so large – the first generation alone has nine children, for example – that a family tree has been included before the story even begins. Godden has defended her choice of this inclusion in the preface, which states, ‘In real life, when one meets a large family, with all its ramifications of uncles, aunts and cousins, as well as grandfathers and grandmothers, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, their friends, servants, and pet animals, it takes some time to distinguish them; one does not expect to remember straightaway that it is Jane who is married to Bertram, Jack who was born with a club foot, Aunt Margaret who had the unfortunate love affair… China Court is a novel about five generations of a family… I believe if the reader is a little patient – and can bear not to skip – they will soon become distinct and he will have no need to look at the family tree on the frontispiece’.

Sadly, a growing clarification of who is who and the relations between members of the family are nigh on impossible to remember without the aid of the aforementioned family tree, and Godden’s intention falls flat somewhat. So many characters are introduced at one time in places that the family dynamic becomes overly confused. The family tree is invaluable in this respect, but it becomes rather annoying to flip back and forth merely in order to work out who is related to who, and in which way. The introduction of so many people in so short a space renders the novel rather stolid and entirely confusing. The characters blend into one indistinguishable mess. The story is quickly saturated with information about the Quin family, not all of whom are remotely interesting.

The tenses, too, jump around from past to present and back again from one paragraph to the next. There are few breaks between different time periods; rather, Godden has created a continuous narrative which just adds to the confusion. The opening line of the novel is striking: ‘Old Mrs Quin died in her sleep in the early hours of an August morning’. We are then launched straight into the dynamics of the Quin’s country house, which stands in a village which is ‘proudly inbred’. The sense of place which Godden has created works well at times, particularly when her descriptions are lovely – motes of dust ‘glittered and spun in the sun that came through the window’ and ‘A tiny fly whirred in the roses’, for example – and not so well at others. The way in which she describes the geographical position of China Court, for example, is so matter-of-fact that it reads like a piece of journalistic non-fiction. Dialects have been used in the speech of some characters in order to better set the scene, and the intended meaning of such chatter is not often easy to translate. The dialogue throughout has not been split up into the form of a conventional literary conversation, and there are often two or three individuals who speak in any one paragraph.

China Court does not have the same charming feel of The Dolls’ House, or the wonderful exuberance and great cast of Thursday’s Children. The execution of this story is wholly disappointing, and whilst the plot and general idea of following several generations who are intrinsically linked to one another is an interesting one, it has not been carried out in the best of ways. In consequence, it is rather difficult for a reader of China Court to muster that patience which Godden urges us to have.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I'd never read this before a couple of years ago, as I have adored In This House of Brede for years, and China Court is one of the better-known of Godden's other books. It tells the tale of China Court and of the Quin family, over the years they live there. Godden interweaves the past with the present masterfully, with layers upon layers of stories slowly unfolding in tandem; while the present-day sections are told in the past tense, Godden slips into the present tense when she goes back in time, lending past events the immediacy of the present. Although there's necessarily a somewhat large cast of characters, they're richly portrayed as individuals and handled as masterfully as the narrative is.

[Mela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how the story was revealed, perhaps a bit chaotic, but on the other hand, it pictured the "family house" splendidly. Normally, I would have complained about this kind of narration, but this time it did the trick.

I didn't learn much about the members of Quin's family, but enough to enjoy the tangle of life.
I admit, some descriptions (of the house or garden) were too long for my taste, but I could always skip them.

What I don't understand is the ending (the last scene) and the whole idea of Eliza's books and Ripsie's will. I was odd.

[3-3.5 stars]

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weird wedding with its shrew(!?)-taming ending made me howl with indignation. It may reflect its times, but that argument always strikes me as a wee bit patronizing of the sensibilities of the past. It's a very surprizing ending, given Godden's sympathy with characters who chafe against the way their lives are limited. Even though some of the characters were caricatures, there were some interesting portraits, and the concept of a house full of the echoes of its families was engaging. What I most enjoyed were her loving, beautiful descriptions of gardening and rare books.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel of life in an English country house throughout five generations. Although the characters at first were confusing (the author jumps around with time periods and you have to keep your head together while reading), I became enamored of the main character, Ripsie, pretty quickly.

Ripsie is a young 'waif', a poor village child who cannot stop gazing in through the gates of China House. Soon she becomes playmates with the children who live there, although the class distinctions for the time period don't make it easy for her. We follow her story as she grows up, marries one of the sons of the house, and has her own children. In between Ripsie's experiences are scattered vignettes (that the reader eventually pieces together) of the forebears who have lived in China House, English village customs (and gardens! the descriptions of the countryside are wonderful).

I loved the author's talent for prose. "Even when one is stricken, much remains; often creature things: drinking good tea from a thin porcelain cup; hot baths; the smell of a wood fire, the warmth of firelight and candlelight. The sound of a stream can be consolation, thinks Mrs. Quin, or the shape of a tree; even stricken, she can enjoy those...How ridiculous to find consolation in food, but it is true and when one is taking those first steps back, bruised and wounded, one can read certain books: Hans Andersen, and the Psalms, Jane Austen, a few other novels. Helped by those things, life reasserts itself, as it must..."

When Mrs. Quin (Ripsie), dies, her will is full of surprises and the family reactions are priceless. This section in my opinion, 'crowns' the story. The author cleverly weaves a story of past generations and their actions that ultimately affect future generations, in an intriguing and unforgettable novel.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lol, need to revisit this one so that I can write a review.

[Philippa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for August book club and really didn’t like it! I kept persevering, hoping it would get better, but it really didn’t! Apparently it’s described as a cosy read - I couldn’t disagree more. Every time it got interesting, the narration would slip back to a time and characters I didn’t give a hoot about. The ending was probably the worst part, when the young farmer slaps his new wife in the face - I know it was published over 60 years ago but WTF?!? Awful.

Everyone raves about this author but as it was the first I’ve read by her, I won’t be tempted to try another any time soon. It helped me fall asleep, but that was about it!

If you want a comfort read about a country house with multiple generations, go with Dorothy Whipple’s The Priory instead.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

China Court is an account of a family’s life seen through the eyes of the family home. Time exists fluidly in this house; we move from past to present to further past with little to no transition. Readers of Godden’s Take Three Tenses: A Fugue in Time will find this familiar. Fortunately I had read that one first and was able to appreciate China Court more fully; there were also more allurements for me as a reader in China Court than A Fugue in Time.

China Court is also structured around a book of hours, with each section being named after one of the hours of prayer. As a dedicated re-reader of In This House of Brede (China Court was also written with the assistance of Stanbrooke Abbey) I was deeply pleased to find China Court an uncloistered counterpart to Brede. The spirituality is obvious on one hand and subtle on the other; it is profoundly rewarding to meditate on. It is a very Catholic novel without being overt.

China Court is set in Cornwall (lovely!) and the house has a rich garden (lovely! lovely! the layers upon layers of medievalism here!!!) and I grew to know the family, and even love some of them. I loved how Godden structured the story according to the hours of prayer (that, of course, correspond to Jesus’ passion--I am in my annual Julian of Norwich re-read and the placement of the births are just !!! so intentional!!!) and the theological layering is as rich as the spiritual movements of the story.

Many times while I was reading, I found I was thinking that Elizabeth Goudge wrote China Court. I have been reading plenty of Goudge lately, and there are so many choices that Godden makes here that make me think of Goudge. Big The Bird in the Tree vibes. Every time a servant/peasant character came on the page, though, I remembered it was Godden and not Goudge writing.

China Court also delighted my bibliophile self. Too good to be true! It was just marvelous, those passages about the books at China Court. I wasn't crazy about the final few pages, they just weren't written quite to my taste, but there is a coherence with the rest of the novel in them, I suppose.

China Court is a challenging novel to read. I often read paragraphs over two or three times to catch the movements in time. Yet, when I read this novel as the memories of the house itself, I felt swept along by the granite house and its inhabitants, human, animal, and material. I’m sure I will return to China Court many times in imagination and reading. I haven’t loved another Godden novel this much since Brede, and while nothing will ever supersede that, I love China Court as a quintessential (ahem) English country house novel and a marvelous work of literary spirituality.

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"Stories, she knows, can never be really told, so much of them is hidden and she often says that when they are told they sound like fairy tales, as if, with time, truth leaks out of them; only the house and the hours spent in it--'and the garden of course,' says Mrs. Quin--seem real to her now, but the people are very real to Tracy." (9-10)

"'A garden isn't meant to be useful. It's for joy,' says Mrs. Quin. To watch her among her flowers is, as John Henry her husband says, like watching a scholar in his library who, as he talks, goes to one shelf or another, pulling out a book to show, to brood over or to read from." (19)

"The Hours seem to thread the day and give it meaning; like the windows at China Court, they reflect the day: dawn, sunrise, morning, the passing of noon and afternoon, sunset, evening, dusk, and night until, 'The night is past and the day is at hand...Cast off the works of darkness...put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day,' and it is morning." (40)

"They were not toys, thought Tracy with dignity, and they must be somewhere in the house still: at China Court, loved things were not thrown away." (94)

"'Homely. Oh, not as we use that word,' said American-reared Tracy, 'but as you do; being at home and carried up the village s-street where she had so often walked.' The stutter was overtaking her but she made herself go on. 'Past c-cottages where she knew every person, and then in the ch-church were she was married,' said Tracy, 'and the churchyard where the f-family were. It wasn't like going away, it was a joining,' said Tracy in a rush." (105)

"Homes must know a certain loneliness because all humans are lonely, shut away from one another, even in the act of talking, of loving." (264)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty perfect story about an English country house. I loved the setting and the several-generations-worth cast of characters. Each chapter started with a prayer from a medieval Book of Hours, along with a description of an illuminated page, which I found delightful. Definitely a good read!