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House #1
The Town House
"The Town House" is the first in a trilogy of novels by Norah Lofts about the inhabitants of a country house in Suffolk from the late fourteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. It begins with the story of Martin Reed, a serf existing under the control of a universally accepted and supported hierarchy. His rebellion, in defence of the woman he loves, casts both of them into the unknown. Freed from his acceptance of circumstance, Reed forges a new path, a path which culminates in the building of the House, and the foundations of a dynasty.
349 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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2688 people want to read
About the author
Norah Lofts
105 books309 followersNorah Ethel Robinson Lofts Jorisch (27 August 1904–10 September 1983) was a 20th century best-selling British author. She wrote over fifty books specialising in historical fiction, but she also wrote non-fiction and short stories. Many of her novels, including her Suffolk Trilogy, follow the history of a specific house and the residents that lived in it.
Lofts was born in Shipdham, Norfolk in England. She also published using the pseudonyms Juliet Astley and Peter Curtis. Norah Lofts chose to release her murder-mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want the readers of her historic fiction to pick up a murder-mystery novel and expect classic Norah Lofts historical fiction. However, the murders still show characteristic Norah Lofts elements. Most of her historical novels fall into two general categories: biographical novels about queens, among them Anne Boleyn, Isabella of Castile, and Catherine of Aragon; and novels set in East Anglia centered around the fictitious town of Baildon (patterned largely on Bury St. Edmunds). Her creation of this fictitious area of England is reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's creation of "Wessex"; and her use of recurring characters such that the protagonist of one novel appears as a secondary character in others is even more reminiscent of William Faulkner's work set in "Yoknapatawpha County," Mississippi. Norah Lofts' work set in East Anglia in the 1930s and 1940s shows great concern with the very poor in society and their inability to change their conditions. Her approach suggests an interest in the social reformism that became a feature of British post-war society.
Several of her novels were turned into films. Jassy was filmed as Jassy (1947) starring Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price. You're Best Alone was filmed as Guilt is My Shadow (1950). The Devil's Own (also known as The Little Wax Doll and Catch As Catch Can) was filmed as The Witches (1966). The film 7 Women was directed by John Ford and based on the story Chinese Finale by Norah Lofts.
Lofts was born in Shipdham, Norfolk in England. She also published using the pseudonyms Juliet Astley and Peter Curtis. Norah Lofts chose to release her murder-mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want the readers of her historic fiction to pick up a murder-mystery novel and expect classic Norah Lofts historical fiction. However, the murders still show characteristic Norah Lofts elements. Most of her historical novels fall into two general categories: biographical novels about queens, among them Anne Boleyn, Isabella of Castile, and Catherine of Aragon; and novels set in East Anglia centered around the fictitious town of Baildon (patterned largely on Bury St. Edmunds). Her creation of this fictitious area of England is reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's creation of "Wessex"; and her use of recurring characters such that the protagonist of one novel appears as a secondary character in others is even more reminiscent of William Faulkner's work set in "Yoknapatawpha County," Mississippi. Norah Lofts' work set in East Anglia in the 1930s and 1940s shows great concern with the very poor in society and their inability to change their conditions. Her approach suggests an interest in the social reformism that became a feature of British post-war society.
Several of her novels were turned into films. Jassy was filmed as Jassy (1947) starring Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price. You're Best Alone was filmed as Guilt is My Shadow (1950). The Devil's Own (also known as The Little Wax Doll and Catch As Catch Can) was filmed as The Witches (1966). The film 7 Women was directed by John Ford and based on the story Chinese Finale by Norah Lofts.
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October 21, 2019
Note, Oct. 21, 2019: I edited this just now to correct a minor typo.
This book, which I've now reread as an adult, was my first introduction to the work of a writer who soon became a favorite of mine. (1963 is a rough guess now as to the date of my first reading, but it was before I turned 14.) There are novels by Lofts that I've read since which I've liked even better, and some books by her, such as How Far to Bethlehem? and Women in the Old Testament: Twenty Psychological Portraits, that would probably give a better sense of her spiritual thought; but this remains one I'd recommend, and that has a special place in my memory. (When I read it the first time, I had no idea it was as a trilogy opener; but I discovered and read the two sequels, The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset, within a few years, and would recommend them as well.) I rarely reread books now, but one of my Goodreads groups did a common read of this one last month (I started a bit late), and the discussion there made me aware of how many details I'd forgotten. There was a LOT that I remembered, though, even after more than 50 years, down to exact words, which is a tribute to the vividness of Loft's writing. But the reread was a worthwhile refresher, allowing me to rediscover some things I'd forgotten, and to experience the read with adult psychological, intellectual and spiritual perspectives instead of just bringing those perspectives to bear on my memories of it. (That group discussion can be accessed here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... , and offers much insight into the novel, but I'd recommend it it only to those who've read the book already --otherwise, it will contain a good many "spoilers!")
Lofts was a high school history teacher, turned serious and knowledgeable historical novelist, with a profound understanding of both human nature and the forces of changing social history, coupled with enormous literary gifts. Like William Faulkner and Thomas Hardy, she concentrated her fictional talents on her own home geographical area, which in her case was Suffolk in southeastern England, and especially her longtime residence of Bury St. Edmund, which becomes Baildon in this series and many of her other novels. A favorite fictional technique of hers is to take a single building and trace its history through the lives of generations of people who live and work there; she does that, for instance, in Bless This House and A Wayside Tavern. A weakness of that technique, though, can be that covering so large a sweep of history in one novel leaves less than optimum time to fully develop the characters in any one generation. But the tale of the great house founded by Martin Reed is spread over a trilogy, which greatly reduces that problem; and the history here stretches back only to his birth in 1381 (not all the way to the end of Roman times, as in A Wayside Tavern). Our setting here in this novel is mostly the first half of the 15th century, and we follow just three generations of a family.
Lofts was a literary Realist (who realized that Realism doesn't require bad language and explicit sex), and a consummate storyteller. She sometimes wrote historical fiction about major actual personages in history; but more often, as here, she concentrated on (fictional) ordinary people living their ordinary lives. Unlike some historical novelists, she doesn't focus exclusively on the well-to-do and high-born; they appear here, but the other end of the medieval social spectrum is well represented, too, along with all shades in between. And "ordinary" doesn't for a minute mean lacking in intense drama and eventfulness. She also had a very lively awareness both of the frequent tragedy of life in this world, and of its ratchet towards profound unfairness. This gives her writing a pessimistic cast at times, which is very marked here: the reader has to be prepared for bad things (sometimes horribly bad!) to happen to good people, and vice versa. Injustice and selfishness, with other people on the receiving end, can be rampant here, and is seldom if ever brought to account. (No less than three major characters here get away with murder, for instance.) This, and the fact that one character abandons belief in God because he can't reconcile that faith with his own experience of tragic bereavement, led me as a kid (who'd only read this book and none of her others) to assume that Lofts was an atheist or at least a skeptic. That impression was strengthened by the often negative treatment of religious professionals and practices here.
Learning more about where Lofts was coming from, however, greatly changed that impression. She was raised in the Church of England and retained that allegiance as an adult, though she didn't wear it on her sleeve; was, like C. S. Lewis (who was only a few years older than she, though she outlived him by decades), far from ascetic, and tended towards a "high" form of the faith that distrusted both the emotionalism of enthusiastic evangelicalism and the trappings of Roman Catholicism. The kind of medieval religiosity that's negatively portrayed here is its more twisted and superstitious aspects: the hawking and veneration of bogus "relics," the whole idea of "mortifying the flesh" and of bribing God for favors by inflicting privations or sufferings on oneself, a warped view of "purgatory" and of what the living can supposedly do for the souls there, and a religious leadership that could often be mainly concerned with wielding power and raking in money, or kissing up to people with power and money. These are things many people of faith (including Catholics) would deplore. And Lofts' realistic view of the tragedy and unfairness of life in this fallen world is fully consistent with Christianity --it actually points out the reason why the Christian eschatological vision is so essential; our hope for a better world and for an ultimate triumph of justice rests on the act of God at the end of history, not on anything this wretched world will achieve on its own. And it also points up the necessity for faith, and the fact that faith is (humanly speaking) often not easy. It's also important to realize that literary characters' attitudes don't always reflect the author's attitudes --indeed, Lofts realistically portrays a whole gamut of human responses to religious belief. (And characters who lose faith can regain it.)
There's also some very serious social commentary here, even though Lofts is probably more concerned with issues of human character and relationships. The 15th century was a time when the medieval feudal order was in existential crisis, when feudalism and knighthood was being undermined by changing social conditions, when the mercantile and tradesman class was growing in wealth and economic power (and seeking social status and political power commensurate with that new economic power), and when many of the fetters on commercial activity that the guild system had provided were being broken or circumvented. All of this is reflected here, not always with commentary, but with enough naturally inserted commentary to make points. Of course, the social order of the 15th century doesn't perfectly resemble ours. But the social issues then --how important is money? how should people be treated? how does economic organization affect human life and human needs? is concentration of wealth and power in very few hands a good idea?-- are the same questions we need to ask. And the kind of reactions this novel would be apt to elicit from readers are the kind that might steer us towards constructive answers rather than harmful ones.
Much more could be written about this book, but hopefully I've said enough for a reader to assess whether he/she might want to try reading it. (I'll add that if you're intimidated by medieval diction, that's not a factor here. The author avoids obvious anachronisms, but she doesn't try to make her dialogue conform to medieval dialect; it's straightforward, without any flavor of archaism.) IMO, Lofts deserves to stand in the first rank of 2oth-century British novelists --and I've read enough of them, including several that are considered "canonical," to credibly make that assessment.
This book, which I've now reread as an adult, was my first introduction to the work of a writer who soon became a favorite of mine. (1963 is a rough guess now as to the date of my first reading, but it was before I turned 14.) There are novels by Lofts that I've read since which I've liked even better, and some books by her, such as How Far to Bethlehem? and Women in the Old Testament: Twenty Psychological Portraits, that would probably give a better sense of her spiritual thought; but this remains one I'd recommend, and that has a special place in my memory. (When I read it the first time, I had no idea it was as a trilogy opener; but I discovered and read the two sequels, The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset, within a few years, and would recommend them as well.) I rarely reread books now, but one of my Goodreads groups did a common read of this one last month (I started a bit late), and the discussion there made me aware of how many details I'd forgotten. There was a LOT that I remembered, though, even after more than 50 years, down to exact words, which is a tribute to the vividness of Loft's writing. But the reread was a worthwhile refresher, allowing me to rediscover some things I'd forgotten, and to experience the read with adult psychological, intellectual and spiritual perspectives instead of just bringing those perspectives to bear on my memories of it. (That group discussion can be accessed here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... , and offers much insight into the novel, but I'd recommend it it only to those who've read the book already --otherwise, it will contain a good many "spoilers!")
Lofts was a high school history teacher, turned serious and knowledgeable historical novelist, with a profound understanding of both human nature and the forces of changing social history, coupled with enormous literary gifts. Like William Faulkner and Thomas Hardy, she concentrated her fictional talents on her own home geographical area, which in her case was Suffolk in southeastern England, and especially her longtime residence of Bury St. Edmund, which becomes Baildon in this series and many of her other novels. A favorite fictional technique of hers is to take a single building and trace its history through the lives of generations of people who live and work there; she does that, for instance, in Bless This House and A Wayside Tavern. A weakness of that technique, though, can be that covering so large a sweep of history in one novel leaves less than optimum time to fully develop the characters in any one generation. But the tale of the great house founded by Martin Reed is spread over a trilogy, which greatly reduces that problem; and the history here stretches back only to his birth in 1381 (not all the way to the end of Roman times, as in A Wayside Tavern). Our setting here in this novel is mostly the first half of the 15th century, and we follow just three generations of a family.
Lofts was a literary Realist (who realized that Realism doesn't require bad language and explicit sex), and a consummate storyteller. She sometimes wrote historical fiction about major actual personages in history; but more often, as here, she concentrated on (fictional) ordinary people living their ordinary lives. Unlike some historical novelists, she doesn't focus exclusively on the well-to-do and high-born; they appear here, but the other end of the medieval social spectrum is well represented, too, along with all shades in between. And "ordinary" doesn't for a minute mean lacking in intense drama and eventfulness. She also had a very lively awareness both of the frequent tragedy of life in this world, and of its ratchet towards profound unfairness. This gives her writing a pessimistic cast at times, which is very marked here: the reader has to be prepared for bad things (sometimes horribly bad!) to happen to good people, and vice versa. Injustice and selfishness, with other people on the receiving end, can be rampant here, and is seldom if ever brought to account. (No less than three major characters here get away with murder, for instance.) This, and the fact that one character abandons belief in God because he can't reconcile that faith with his own experience of tragic bereavement, led me as a kid (who'd only read this book and none of her others) to assume that Lofts was an atheist or at least a skeptic. That impression was strengthened by the often negative treatment of religious professionals and practices here.
Learning more about where Lofts was coming from, however, greatly changed that impression. She was raised in the Church of England and retained that allegiance as an adult, though she didn't wear it on her sleeve; was, like C. S. Lewis (who was only a few years older than she, though she outlived him by decades), far from ascetic, and tended towards a "high" form of the faith that distrusted both the emotionalism of enthusiastic evangelicalism and the trappings of Roman Catholicism. The kind of medieval religiosity that's negatively portrayed here is its more twisted and superstitious aspects: the hawking and veneration of bogus "relics," the whole idea of "mortifying the flesh" and of bribing God for favors by inflicting privations or sufferings on oneself, a warped view of "purgatory" and of what the living can supposedly do for the souls there, and a religious leadership that could often be mainly concerned with wielding power and raking in money, or kissing up to people with power and money. These are things many people of faith (including Catholics) would deplore. And Lofts' realistic view of the tragedy and unfairness of life in this fallen world is fully consistent with Christianity --it actually points out the reason why the Christian eschatological vision is so essential; our hope for a better world and for an ultimate triumph of justice rests on the act of God at the end of history, not on anything this wretched world will achieve on its own. And it also points up the necessity for faith, and the fact that faith is (humanly speaking) often not easy. It's also important to realize that literary characters' attitudes don't always reflect the author's attitudes --indeed, Lofts realistically portrays a whole gamut of human responses to religious belief. (And characters who lose faith can regain it.)
There's also some very serious social commentary here, even though Lofts is probably more concerned with issues of human character and relationships. The 15th century was a time when the medieval feudal order was in existential crisis, when feudalism and knighthood was being undermined by changing social conditions, when the mercantile and tradesman class was growing in wealth and economic power (and seeking social status and political power commensurate with that new economic power), and when many of the fetters on commercial activity that the guild system had provided were being broken or circumvented. All of this is reflected here, not always with commentary, but with enough naturally inserted commentary to make points. Of course, the social order of the 15th century doesn't perfectly resemble ours. But the social issues then --how important is money? how should people be treated? how does economic organization affect human life and human needs? is concentration of wealth and power in very few hands a good idea?-- are the same questions we need to ask. And the kind of reactions this novel would be apt to elicit from readers are the kind that might steer us towards constructive answers rather than harmful ones.
Much more could be written about this book, but hopefully I've said enough for a reader to assess whether he/she might want to try reading it. (I'll add that if you're intimidated by medieval diction, that's not a factor here. The author avoids obvious anachronisms, but she doesn't try to make her dialogue conform to medieval dialect; it's straightforward, without any flavor of archaism.) IMO, Lofts deserves to stand in the first rank of 2oth-century British novelists --and I've read enough of them, including several that are considered "canonical," to credibly make that assessment.
July 11, 2025
Feel free to visualize me kicking myself at my age and with my arthritic body, because that's what I'm doing right now in my imagination. Why didn't I find Norah Lofts at a younger age so that I could have many years of enjoying her fine novels? I'll tell you why. Because I was stupid enough to assume that she was a "romance" writer, based largely on the publishers choice of covers, so they bear some of the blame. What she really is is an historical fiction author who takes you there with all your senses, giving you details that put you right there in the scene. I had a hard time putting this book down at times.
In 1401, Martin Reed is an impoverished young man who betrays the townspeople who have treated him poorly, and is richly rewarded by the local Abbey who give him land outside of town and a great deal of money in payment. From this he builds a house and a business and a family. That thumbnail sketch doesn't even scratch the surface of this tale. I can't begin to even list the plot twists and turns that keep you reading, but I will tell you this: women who are assumed to have no power to influence events WILL find a way.
"Men may win honor in battle and prizes and praise in tourneys, but women have their own kind of courage."
Fortunately for me, this is the first in a trilogy about this house and it's occupants over several centuries, so I'll go on from here, but I'm still kicking myself.
"Norah Lofts is a consumate storyteller." I couldn't agree more.
In 1401, Martin Reed is an impoverished young man who betrays the townspeople who have treated him poorly, and is richly rewarded by the local Abbey who give him land outside of town and a great deal of money in payment. From this he builds a house and a business and a family. That thumbnail sketch doesn't even scratch the surface of this tale. I can't begin to even list the plot twists and turns that keep you reading, but I will tell you this: women who are assumed to have no power to influence events WILL find a way.
"Men may win honor in battle and prizes and praise in tourneys, but women have their own kind of courage."
Fortunately for me, this is the first in a trilogy about this house and it's occupants over several centuries, so I'll go on from here, but I'm still kicking myself.
"Norah Lofts is a consumate storyteller." I couldn't agree more.
January 2, 2025
My copy of this book was in tatters. Red cloth with black bindings all gone astray. The pages are yellowed and the middle sections deeply stained with red dye leak? Oh, so many of these old and wonderful tales are not going to stay in print?
This is House book #1 for the Norah Lofts series for the "in" town residence that begins with Martin Reed's obtaining land from the Abbey for services rendered in 1381. Plague, collapse of Noble houses, failure in different types of husbandry and the Knight class falling away have strengthened the Guilds. And most of the religious houses of every ilk. All of which are most self-serving and intrinsically unfair and manipulative to the peasant, self-learned, or gifted of skills or talent, but without any path possible to an advocacy which would enable their use.
Martin has done his years of apprenticeship and journeyman and still is rejected. He's ruined the curve of the quality too in his output.
There follows the building/shack structure in which he begins. Following are the stories of the 4 people who presently over the decades of his life, live with him there. In familial relationship or in association toward his growing businesses, and over 4 to 5 decades. The tales are detailed to exact degree and from those eyes alone as the narrator changes in each section.
But Martin's thoughts from 10 to 70 years of age; they are never obscured.
Real as dirt. And dark. And amidst some moments of joy or glory, the majority is sad. Loss and grief. Fire and consumption (lung-rot). Norman and Saxon and Romany- the house he begins with that Abbey toss away of pox filled ground, it grows.
This is a story of an impossible entrepreneur. Forging shoes, blacksmith's shakes, wool cleaning (as bad as cotton picking but worse because it is mainly indoors), sailing for trade, bringing weavers to England instead of the wool to the Flemish.
Wonderful read. I will start book #2 (House at Old Vine) to see who comes next to the Master's spot at the table of the town house. Will it be Martin's granddaughter (in name but not by blood) Maude?
This book has one of the most intrinsic looks into the early unions, Guilds, and the hierarchies enabled and encompassed by them. This is entirely in the cognition of those who lived in the late 14th and well into the 15th century. Beauty, song/art, healing/sickness, faith and hatred- all defined in the English eyes of that period.
This is House book #1 for the Norah Lofts series for the "in" town residence that begins with Martin Reed's obtaining land from the Abbey for services rendered in 1381. Plague, collapse of Noble houses, failure in different types of husbandry and the Knight class falling away have strengthened the Guilds. And most of the religious houses of every ilk. All of which are most self-serving and intrinsically unfair and manipulative to the peasant, self-learned, or gifted of skills or talent, but without any path possible to an advocacy which would enable their use.
Martin has done his years of apprenticeship and journeyman and still is rejected. He's ruined the curve of the quality too in his output.
There follows the building/shack structure in which he begins. Following are the stories of the 4 people who presently over the decades of his life, live with him there. In familial relationship or in association toward his growing businesses, and over 4 to 5 decades. The tales are detailed to exact degree and from those eyes alone as the narrator changes in each section.
But Martin's thoughts from 10 to 70 years of age; they are never obscured.
Real as dirt. And dark. And amidst some moments of joy or glory, the majority is sad. Loss and grief. Fire and consumption (lung-rot). Norman and Saxon and Romany- the house he begins with that Abbey toss away of pox filled ground, it grows.
This is a story of an impossible entrepreneur. Forging shoes, blacksmith's shakes, wool cleaning (as bad as cotton picking but worse because it is mainly indoors), sailing for trade, bringing weavers to England instead of the wool to the Flemish.
Wonderful read. I will start book #2 (House at Old Vine) to see who comes next to the Master's spot at the table of the town house. Will it be Martin's granddaughter (in name but not by blood) Maude?
This book has one of the most intrinsic looks into the early unions, Guilds, and the hierarchies enabled and encompassed by them. This is entirely in the cognition of those who lived in the late 14th and well into the 15th century. Beauty, song/art, healing/sickness, faith and hatred- all defined in the English eyes of that period.
January 3, 2025
4.5
I had been aware of this book, and had vaguely thought I would read it one day. Recently, I read Lady Living Alone, my first book by her, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Shortly after that, I read Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives, and Lucy Mangan writes of her delight at finding Norah Lofts, and this book in particular, so I picked it up from the library, and now I'm eagerly looking forward to the next instalment.
The book covers the life of Martin Reed. He starts off as a serf, in the late 14th century, but fate takes him away from that life. Though we see his life through to the end, there are another four narrators of the story, through the major events that take place in his life, and that of those who live with him in the house that he managed to build for himself.
I get the impression that a lot of research has gone into the details of the book, but it is worn lightly, and at no point feels like a history lesson, instead it is a well told and very engaging story.
I had been aware of this book, and had vaguely thought I would read it one day. Recently, I read Lady Living Alone, my first book by her, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Shortly after that, I read Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives, and Lucy Mangan writes of her delight at finding Norah Lofts, and this book in particular, so I picked it up from the library, and now I'm eagerly looking forward to the next instalment.
The book covers the life of Martin Reed. He starts off as a serf, in the late 14th century, but fate takes him away from that life. Though we see his life through to the end, there are another four narrators of the story, through the major events that take place in his life, and that of those who live with him in the house that he managed to build for himself.
I get the impression that a lot of research has gone into the details of the book, but it is worn lightly, and at no point feels like a history lesson, instead it is a well told and very engaging story.
April 1, 2017
An excellent book, the start of the House trilogy. I had read The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset so it was good to find the first book of the trilogy. This is early Norah Lofts, printed in 1959, and it contains little gems, mentioning events and characters, that she eventually used in forthcoming books; I always enjoy that type of continuity.
February 2, 2021
This is one of my favorite books. I just finished it for the third time. I am so lucky as I forgot large parts of it so got to enjoy it all over again. I sure feel sad for Nicholas at the end. I don't recall having that feeling before about him. Before I felt she was lucky to escape him. Its strange how impressions can change.
December 9, 2023
Thoughts walk in uninvited.
Reading great historical novels written e.g. by E. Chadwick one can sometimes almost forget that there were serfs, starvings, minstrels and so on in the medieval.
Imagine a young smith (a serf) who fell in love with a daughter of the shepherd. They had to have permission from a priest (a matter of the pedigree), then from parents and a steward (a father of the bride wanted something for "his loss", the steward had to confirm that the wealth of the lord would not lose on the marriage) and at the end, the lord had to say "yes". And what if he didn't? They were serfs. In theory, it was the end of their hopes. But sometimes the serf rebelled (I don't mean an uprising, but an individual rebellion). What then? One such case you can read in this superb novel.
An amazing historical fiction. The family saga. Gripping with historical details and accuracy. This was one of those (I think rather rare) historical fiction where there aren't battles, royal intrigues, politics and so on. It was a great journey through the everyday life of the common people in the first half of XV century.
The book had a few narrators and between their tales there were short intervals with a narrator in the third person. So, one could see the same things from different points of view. And it was very enriching.
When you read you must get out of your own skin and into the skin of the people you are reading about, that is the only way to enjoy it.
Like in life, there was sorrow, injustice , hard work, prejudice, love, hate, dreams, happy and sad days. Everything was described in a way I think those people would have described. Without pathos but often with hope or/and acceptance of what life brought. This enduring fight with everyday problems and decisions.
There lies the whole crux of the matter; what cannot be prevented must be borne
Perfect historical fiction. I have learned many new facts about how people lived then. From lavatory in a big estate (kind of castle), to how wool trade worked. Really, it is a priceless book for every fan of the medieval world.
I recommend to read Werner's review. He described the religiosity of Lofts and what 'a literary Realism' was for her. These two things made the book so good, unique.
April 9, 2020
Walking in my local town one day, I noticed one of those plaques they put on houses, to denote that someone famous had lived there....this turned out to be author Norah Lofts, so of course, I did a little research, and discovered that among the many books she had written was a trilogy, of which this book is the first.
It's set in Bury St Edmunds....the town where I spotted her house, although she actually calls it by another name.
The book rather reminds me of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, not as long and detailed, and Norah Loft's characters were perhaps not quite so well drawn, but she still managed to bring people from the 1300's to life, and give her readers a feel for what it was like to live in those times.
The story covers the life of it's main character, a rags to riches tale which is also a mine of interesting historical detail.
I certainly intend to read the other two books in the series, I believe that they follow the fortunes of the house featured in the story, looking at it's varied inhabitants over quite a long sweep of time, rather that continuing on with the characters in the first book.
It had added interest for me, as I recognised many of the locations.
It's set in Bury St Edmunds....the town where I spotted her house, although she actually calls it by another name.
The book rather reminds me of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, not as long and detailed, and Norah Loft's characters were perhaps not quite so well drawn, but she still managed to bring people from the 1300's to life, and give her readers a feel for what it was like to live in those times.
The story covers the life of it's main character, a rags to riches tale which is also a mine of interesting historical detail.
I certainly intend to read the other two books in the series, I believe that they follow the fortunes of the house featured in the story, looking at it's varied inhabitants over quite a long sweep of time, rather that continuing on with the characters in the first book.
It had added interest for me, as I recognised many of the locations.
December 2, 2020
Norah Lofts is one of my top three favorite authors, so it's not surprising that I rated this five enthusiastic stars! She writes so convincingly about the medieval period of English history, with three-dimensional characters who are authentic to the time period, yet completely accessible to the modern reader. Her settings convey us there by means of visuals, smells and textures, not to mention that she is able to present the mind-set of the Middle Ages so that we can begin to fathom their point of view.
This book in particular is a gem, because of all Norah Lofts' books, this one may have the best (happiest) ending! As in many of her stories, the book is narrated by several different people who also feature in each other's "tales." It's a clever device and it's surprising how different the same actions appear when seen through someone else's eyes.
I have read this book before (it is part of the "House" trilogy,) but it has been a very long time in between reads, and yet it still felt like coming home to me...I love it!
This book in particular is a gem, because of all Norah Lofts' books, this one may have the best (happiest) ending! As in many of her stories, the book is narrated by several different people who also feature in each other's "tales." It's a clever device and it's surprising how different the same actions appear when seen through someone else's eyes.
I have read this book before (it is part of the "House" trilogy,) but it has been a very long time in between reads, and yet it still felt like coming home to me...I love it!
July 15, 2020
4.5/5
Positively gripping if I must say so myself. Loft's novel, quite literally, surpasses time to tell us all a tale of living humans ~600 years back starting from the very bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy. She spares no detail, and the novel is set hard with historical accuracy. This by no means is inaccessible, however, as you walk through the shoes of a serf determined to escape the confines of his birth. The pack-whacker, wool merchant, smith life is all in there along with the obligatory overall corrupt church and good and bad church persons. Every decision is within human reason, with all the faults of human reason. Every emotion is ladled with character, prejudices, hopes, dreams, and regrets. Do you want a realistic picture of the 14th~15th century English life? Here you go.
PART 1: Martin Reed's Tale
"When it came it was merely a thought in my head. I had no soul. Serfs had no souls. They were treated like animals and they were animals. The pretense that we were immortal, with Hell to fear and Heaven to hope for, was simply a trick to make us well behaved. (pg 80)"
This first volume in the trilogy starts in the 14th century when Martin (Walter) Reed, a serf runs away with his lover to escape a life of, let's be real here, age-old slavery. I spent most of the book feeling sorry for this poor man, who toiled away without a break to squelch his continuous miseries. I watched him, the hot-headed youngster, taken over by a multitude of passions, being met by cruel unbending realities. And through the courses and years, changed to a wizened hard-set old man. I felt for his efforts, for his hatreds, for his loves and his struggles, his regrets, and his recognition of such.
PART 2 : Old Agnes's Tale
"Because...' she paused, smiled, shook her head. 'There is no because.' To dance I am born, so I dance.' 'To me that sounds daft.' 'Must everything be because? There is a poppy, very red, beside the road for just one day. Because? Is a red poppy. No good for eating. You pluck him, he falls to pieces. Is enough for a poppy just to be a red poppy. And so with me. (pg 124)"
Oh, Old Agnes's. We see an old woman who's life was destined to ruin just for the fact that she was a young widow that made poor decisions. She retrieves her sense of belonging only back at the Town House, where simultaneously her loves and prejudices bring about life and death. You have Magda, the free-spirited gypsy woman - wholly dedicated to the art of dancing, unwilling to marry, and
PART 3: Anne Blanchefleur's Tale
"Within a few minutes of our meeting I was certain that Mother's slighting remarks about Richard were due to prejudice and, perhaps, a little to jealousy... I thought if only he'd had breeding how Mother would have praised him and said I was lucky. And what is breeding after all? LArgely a matter of money and land and staying in one place long enough to establish a name and a family; or pleasing the King and getting some honour conferred on you. (pg 167)"
This part is very much a character study on Anne Blanchefleur, who comes from a family noble in name but poor in riches. Anne is passionate and loving, but also somewhat of the prideful sort. She makes one mistake that weighs on her throughout her life, linking one causation to another, and has a mentality susceptible to self-loathing. She drowns herself in alcohol rather than to face grief, and projects two natures to her two twins- one of love and one of hatred. She's difficult to like that's for sure, but she's not difficult to sympathize with either.
PART 4: Maude Reed's Tale
"I lay and wondered what was wrong in saying, 'I forgive you.' Perhaps it was a wrong thing for a child to say to her mother. (pg 219)"
And the fourth part is where my beloved Maude comes into the world, instantly disliked by her mother. Maude's story takes place not in the Town House, but the Beauclaire Castle where she spends a good amount of her childhood. The most important relationship aside from Mr. awkward Henry Rancon, is the relationship with Maude and Melusine, who's name rings with a fairy lady in a French Romance. This relationship starts off with nothing short of a bang -
For those who want to know the difference between the standalone and this one: I read The Maude Reed Tale before this one. What I thought would be a word to word copy & paste was actually not. Each version, I'd say, has its own merits, and I won't ever put one over the other because they resonated with me differently. The Maude Reed Tale is viewed through a more YA lens and wraps the whole story up at the end, whereas this book takes a more mature tone and pedals you through the continuous story of life through the generations. Maude Reed feels as if a fiery girl has come to life, hopping and skipping through those pages, while the Town House can be likened to a crying child, after realizing the darkness of death, has wiped her eyes and seen the world for both its beauties and its cruelties. The Maude Reed may just be a more idealistic version of the "real" one, but each is priceless in its way.
PART 5: Nicholas Freeman's Tale
I'm not gonna quote this dude. He's an avaricious and ambitious clerk in his young 20s. Who just so happens to fall in love with Maude. Pedo alert. At least he waits until she's an adult (cough cough 14? 16? in medieval terms cough cough) and wants to propose beforehand. Well. My own parents have a 2 decade age difference. Just have that mutual consent (not coerced mind you) and be ADULT adult age. No kids. Nope. Big nope. Don't worry. Maude's safe. He mainly keeps all his obsessive dreams in his head, nothing came in action. Nothing professed. Maude mainly sees him as a mentor ish role. Dude's apparently going to be a celibate cardinal someday, because of the unrequited love that he keeps suppressed. I was breaking out sweat the whole time phew. This part is mostly Maude's coming of age through an outsider's perspective, and a signal to the end of Martin's era. Maude's the heiress and a certain someone comes back woohoo. Now I'm going to race on to the next book.
Extra quotes just cause:
"That was to be a serf. A serf had no right even to human feelings; it was only by throwing away all claim to human feelings a serf could support his way of life. I had, this very morning, acted like a man, not a self; and with what result! (pg 17)"
I realised that marriage meant much more to her than it did to me; a woman who lives out of wedlock with a man is called a whore; there is no such damaging term for the man. (pg 68)"
The wars between the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York are blamed for the change but I sometimes think they were bound to end, those great establishments, out of their own unwieldiness and waste. And perhaps because under all that glitter and splendour there was something rotten, something that made human beings of small account and wealth of too much. (pg 253)
Positively gripping if I must say so myself. Loft's novel, quite literally, surpasses time to tell us all a tale of living humans ~600 years back starting from the very bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy. She spares no detail, and the novel is set hard with historical accuracy. This by no means is inaccessible, however, as you walk through the shoes of a serf determined to escape the confines of his birth. The pack-whacker, wool merchant, smith life is all in there along with the obligatory overall corrupt church and good and bad church persons. Every decision is within human reason, with all the faults of human reason. Every emotion is ladled with character, prejudices, hopes, dreams, and regrets. Do you want a realistic picture of the 14th~15th century English life? Here you go.
PART 1: Martin Reed's Tale
"When it came it was merely a thought in my head. I had no soul. Serfs had no souls. They were treated like animals and they were animals. The pretense that we were immortal, with Hell to fear and Heaven to hope for, was simply a trick to make us well behaved. (pg 80)"
This first volume in the trilogy starts in the 14th century when Martin (Walter) Reed, a serf runs away with his lover to escape a life of, let's be real here, age-old slavery. I spent most of the book feeling sorry for this poor man, who toiled away without a break to squelch his continuous miseries. I watched him, the hot-headed youngster, taken over by a multitude of passions, being met by cruel unbending realities. And through the courses and years, changed to a wizened hard-set old man. I felt for his efforts, for his hatreds, for his loves and his struggles, his regrets, and his recognition of such.
PART 2 : Old Agnes's Tale
"Because...' she paused, smiled, shook her head. 'There is no because.' To dance I am born, so I dance.' 'To me that sounds daft.' 'Must everything be because? There is a poppy, very red, beside the road for just one day. Because? Is a red poppy. No good for eating. You pluck him, he falls to pieces. Is enough for a poppy just to be a red poppy. And so with me. (pg 124)"
Oh, Old Agnes's. We see an old woman who's life was destined to ruin just for the fact that she was a young widow that made poor decisions. She retrieves her sense of belonging only back at the Town House, where simultaneously her loves and prejudices bring about life and death. You have Magda, the free-spirited gypsy woman - wholly dedicated to the art of dancing, unwilling to marry, and
PART 3: Anne Blanchefleur's Tale
"Within a few minutes of our meeting I was certain that Mother's slighting remarks about Richard were due to prejudice and, perhaps, a little to jealousy... I thought if only he'd had breeding how Mother would have praised him and said I was lucky. And what is breeding after all? LArgely a matter of money and land and staying in one place long enough to establish a name and a family; or pleasing the King and getting some honour conferred on you. (pg 167)"
This part is very much a character study on Anne Blanchefleur, who comes from a family noble in name but poor in riches. Anne is passionate and loving, but also somewhat of the prideful sort. She makes one mistake that weighs on her throughout her life, linking one causation to another, and has a mentality susceptible to self-loathing. She drowns herself in alcohol rather than to face grief, and projects two natures to her two twins- one of love and one of hatred. She's difficult to like that's for sure, but she's not difficult to sympathize with either.
PART 4: Maude Reed's Tale
"I lay and wondered what was wrong in saying, 'I forgive you.' Perhaps it was a wrong thing for a child to say to her mother. (pg 219)"
And the fourth part is where my beloved Maude comes into the world, instantly disliked by her mother. Maude's story takes place not in the Town House, but the Beauclaire Castle where she spends a good amount of her childhood. The most important relationship aside from Mr. awkward Henry Rancon, is the relationship with Maude and Melusine, who's name rings with a fairy lady in a French Romance. This relationship starts off with nothing short of a bang -
"My name is Maude Reed and my Uncle Sir Godfrey Blanchefleur invited me here and now he is gone and I don't know what to do and I want to go to the privy very badly indeed! (pg 230)"I had to chuckle at that one. Maude who doesn't receive any love from her mother instead finds a mother figure in this woman, who is a person of her own, one who loves the romances and the books:
"To escape even for an hour from the everlasting chatter and bickering; to get out of that carp pond, delights me.' Another time she said that it should be a law that every woman who was not a busy housewife should learn to read. 'If they could find stories in books they would be less ready to make up tales about those they live amongst. And they would learn that their own small joys and troubles do not fill up the world. (pg 246)"Ah if only life were of such simplistic joys. It's not hard to get a heart to warm to a relationship such as this, full of endearment and happiness. Unfortunately for us, Lofts is very much a realist in her novels. Just get a box of tissues ready cuz this world is no forgiving saint.
For those who want to know the difference between the standalone and this one: I read The Maude Reed Tale before this one. What I thought would be a word to word copy & paste was actually not. Each version, I'd say, has its own merits, and I won't ever put one over the other because they resonated with me differently. The Maude Reed Tale is viewed through a more YA lens and wraps the whole story up at the end, whereas this book takes a more mature tone and pedals you through the continuous story of life through the generations. Maude Reed feels as if a fiery girl has come to life, hopping and skipping through those pages, while the Town House can be likened to a crying child, after realizing the darkness of death, has wiped her eyes and seen the world for both its beauties and its cruelties. The Maude Reed may just be a more idealistic version of the "real" one, but each is priceless in its way.
PART 5: Nicholas Freeman's Tale
I'm not gonna quote this dude. He's an avaricious and ambitious clerk in his young 20s. Who just so happens to fall in love with Maude. Pedo alert. At least he waits until she's an adult (cough cough 14? 16? in medieval terms cough cough) and wants to propose beforehand. Well. My own parents have a 2 decade age difference. Just have that mutual consent (not coerced mind you) and be ADULT adult age. No kids. Nope. Big nope. Don't worry. Maude's safe. He mainly keeps all his obsessive dreams in his head, nothing came in action. Nothing professed. Maude mainly sees him as a mentor ish role. Dude's apparently going to be a celibate cardinal someday, because of the unrequited love that he keeps suppressed. I was breaking out sweat the whole time phew. This part is mostly Maude's coming of age through an outsider's perspective, and a signal to the end of Martin's era. Maude's the heiress and a certain someone comes back woohoo. Now I'm going to race on to the next book.
Extra quotes just cause:
"That was to be a serf. A serf had no right even to human feelings; it was only by throwing away all claim to human feelings a serf could support his way of life. I had, this very morning, acted like a man, not a self; and with what result! (pg 17)"
I realised that marriage meant much more to her than it did to me; a woman who lives out of wedlock with a man is called a whore; there is no such damaging term for the man. (pg 68)"
The wars between the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York are blamed for the change but I sometimes think they were bound to end, those great establishments, out of their own unwieldiness and waste. And perhaps because under all that glitter and splendour there was something rotten, something that made human beings of small account and wealth of too much. (pg 253)
March 29, 2012
I clearly remember trying to read a Norah Lofts novel about 30 years ago when I was laid up in hospital for 3 months expecting my first child and just couldnt get into it. Maybe I was just not ready or there were too many distractions and worries but I am sorry to say I abandoned her - until now. I now appreciate what a wonderful storyteller she is. I loved this book and the writing is sublime. It was written in 1959 and to me it truly stands the test of time. The style of writing is far different from the simplistic style of a lot of - not all - today's historical fiction writers and is a joy to read.
The Town House is the first of a trilogy centred around the Vine House starting with Martin Reed telling his story. He built the house at the beginning of the 15th century. Other members of his family then tell their stories from their individual points of view but they are all connected to each other and this drives the story forward. I really want to know what happens to them all in the coming years so I have ordered the 2nd and 3rd books in the trilogy. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves a good story well told.
The Town House is the first of a trilogy centred around the Vine House starting with Martin Reed telling his story. He built the house at the beginning of the 15th century. Other members of his family then tell their stories from their individual points of view but they are all connected to each other and this drives the story forward. I really want to know what happens to them all in the coming years so I have ordered the 2nd and 3rd books in the trilogy. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves a good story well told.
September 4, 2016
This novel was well written and presumably well researched, although I am no scholar of medieval society. I was slightly put out by a few neologisms though (I'm sure no one said "bring us back lots of goodies!" in the 15th century). "The Town House" is the story of 3 generations of the Reed family in the early to mid 1400s. However, I cannot honestly say I enjoyed it. Perhaps that was because it is told from several different peoples' POV, but I found it all rather sad, with no redeeming joy interspersed. So I'm not sure if I'll read the other two in the trilogy, despite their wonderful reviews.
January 31, 2020
This book makes for a deeply enthralling read.
I was pretty much covered in gloom at the end of this experience. Am only giving a 4 star rating simply because I am of the opinion no man could possibly endure nay survive the sheer monstrosity of tragedies copiously laid out in this narrative.
I was pretty much covered in gloom at the end of this experience. Am only giving a 4 star rating simply because I am of the opinion no man could possibly endure nay survive the sheer monstrosity of tragedies copiously laid out in this narrative.
January 15, 2025
This is easily the best book I have read in years. I literally could not put it down. The world Lofts builds is so captivating and I was so interested in the characters and what they would do next. Immediately after finishing it I started the second book in the trilogy. Loved it.
May 29, 2024
First book of a trilogy. It tells the story of three generations of an English family living in the same house, and is set during the 1400s. Well-written, with well-developed characters and an interesting, twist-filled story line.
December 5, 2009
This book included The Maude Reed Tale in the latter part of this volume, but the tales were different enough to be quite interesting: I *thought* I knew what was going to happen, but then she whisked the floor out from under me and I was again in unfamiliar territory, wanting to know "what happens next."
The characters are complex; although there is still something of a good/bad dichotomy, there is remorse (or not) for past mistakes (you know, like murdering your lover so he won't tell your husband).
Maud Reed herself was less 1970s-ish, but still feisty. I think that one of the things I most enjoyed about this book is how true to the times it seems. (From what little I know or guess.) The children's book The Maude Reed Tale seems a bit more "updated" and doesn't quite work as well, although there are several good points about that book, too.
The characters are complex; although there is still something of a good/bad dichotomy, there is remorse (or not) for past mistakes (you know, like murdering your lover so he won't tell your husband).
Maud Reed herself was less 1970s-ish, but still feisty. I think that one of the things I most enjoyed about this book is how true to the times it seems. (From what little I know or guess.) The children's book The Maude Reed Tale seems a bit more "updated" and doesn't quite work as well, although there are several good points about that book, too.
March 3, 2019
It's difficult to describe how this book immediately wrenched my full attention. Although it is not my typical preferred genre it does exactly what I look for in all genres: show a world and then explore the consequences of that world. In this case the world is 15th century England and the consequences are a very long list of situations and scenarios I've heard about but never quite figured out the mechanism by which they had power. As the book proceeds we see in character after character the crushing power of feudal lords, guilds or the church not as abstracts, but in how they could give you employment or let you starve, feed your newborn baby or not etc etc. And then, as focus on characters grows one gets a sense of the same life and death power of individuals as well.
But my description does not convey the drama involved through the author's skilled presentation of the possible vs. what actually happens to the character involved. The gap between what they want and what they get and *how* that difference happens is what fueled my interest through the book. Highly recommended.
But my description does not convey the drama involved through the author's skilled presentation of the possible vs. what actually happens to the character involved. The gap between what they want and what they get and *how* that difference happens is what fueled my interest through the book. Highly recommended.
July 28, 2009
This is the first book in a series by Nora Lofts, about the history of an old house and the different characters who lived there, century after century. I found this book so engaging that I had to read the sequils, The House at Old Vine, and The House at Sunset. Wonderful stories of British history and culture are in this series.
March 30, 2013
Great book. Reminds me of the pillars of the earth. I now want to read the other two, but it looks like they are not available in kindle edition and the paperbacks are really expensive. Will have to wait.
April 28, 2009
Before there was Pillars of the Earth there was The Town House. Norah Lofts is a forgotten mistress of historical fiction. Compelling, detailed, exciting.
April 30, 2018
My first Norah Lofts, which left me wanting more!
October 3, 2013
I loved this book. Had never read Norah Lofts before but will definitely be reading her others.Even though this was written 50 years ago, it has stood the test of time!
June 5, 2018
Exceptional medieval era historical fiction
First of a trilogy. Nora Lofts combines a uncanny ability to describe the subculture and way of life led by the economically marginalized fifty years after The Great Pestilence in then English high Middle Ages. This, the first, spans 50 years, and one narrator, whose narrative is retrospective, refers to this period as a world undone by the War of the Roses, the rising merchant class, wool trade and waning influence of landed great houses of military nobility. This is no formulaic celebration of warriors, romance and chivalry. Ms. Lofts nuanced characters are unique individuals with complex inner lives, shaped by genetics, culture, class, gender, character and intelligence. The sacred and secular interests of the Church, it’s abbeys, educated leaders, set in an agrarian land with guilds, walled market towns, pilgrims and a great population of landless and bound peasants. But each character, whatever their limitations, evolves, they are not the static: caricatures too often found in historical fiction
First of a trilogy. Nora Lofts combines a uncanny ability to describe the subculture and way of life led by the economically marginalized fifty years after The Great Pestilence in then English high Middle Ages. This, the first, spans 50 years, and one narrator, whose narrative is retrospective, refers to this period as a world undone by the War of the Roses, the rising merchant class, wool trade and waning influence of landed great houses of military nobility. This is no formulaic celebration of warriors, romance and chivalry. Ms. Lofts nuanced characters are unique individuals with complex inner lives, shaped by genetics, culture, class, gender, character and intelligence. The sacred and secular interests of the Church, it’s abbeys, educated leaders, set in an agrarian land with guilds, walled market towns, pilgrims and a great population of landless and bound peasants. But each character, whatever their limitations, evolves, they are not the static: caricatures too often found in historical fiction
March 11, 2010
An extremely interesting account of a young, runaway serf and his tragedies and triumphs. The house he builds in the 1400's is viewed through the centuries to modern times, along with the people and events connected with it.
December 19, 2010
I read this several years ago and I am now re-reading all 3 books in the trilogy. As someone else mentioned in their review, anyone who liked Pillars of the Earth would really enjoy the 3 books in this series, The Town House, The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset. Very enjoyable!
January 29, 2017
Follows a family through 3 generations. Nothing good seems to happen to them!
March 23, 2024
This is the third or fourth time that I have read this book, it's a favourite!
November 21, 2015
Well-written and meticulously researched, the author paints a vivid picture of what life may have been like for the poorest inhabitants of fourteenth century England. The strange customs, the cruelty and hardships of the time are vividly portrayed, along with the unchanging characteristics of human nature. I found it a very interesting and enjoyable read.
May 12, 2013
Fascinating story about a town house from its beginning, why it was built and by who, spanning generations, adding wings. You see the surrounding area change with the values and morals of its inhabitants. It was heart breaking in parts and quite a difficult read at times but I couldn't put it down.
February 24, 2015
Wonderful story of life in the 1300's. I have read a few reviews that compare it to The Pillars of the Earth, and don't feel it is quite in the same league....but this is part one of a trilogy, and I feel I need to read the second and third before I can make that assessment.
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