5 GOLD stars
On Goodreads
How I discovered this book: One of my favourite authors, saw this book from her back catalogue advertised on X.
In a Nutshell: A novel of long-short stories, about a family across the centuries
This is one of the best books I've read in ages. The Book of the title was originally written by a priest in the 8th Century; it is passed down the centuries, with additions made by the generations who are fortunate to be its keeper in the place for which it is named. Thornhold begins as a Saxon smallholding, and becomes a fine manor house.
It's a novel in the form of eight stories that are independent of each other but are held together by the same threads. I loved them all, though I think my favourites were the chapter in the 14th Century, when the Thorn family weathered the Black Death, another about monks in a nearby abbey during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th Century, and a long one that centred around the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 and its after-effects on the family. I was actually reading that one in the early hours of this morning, and had to tear myself away from it!
The book reminded me of Norah Lofts' The House at Old Vine and A Wayside Tavern, and I was just as engrossed in Thornhold as I am when I read those novels. I'm also quite relieved because I've been vaguely thinking of doing something similar for quite some time, but I know I could never write anything as good as this, so I can now shelve that project indefinitely!
In the introduction Ms Arnopp apologises for any flaws that have resulted from the re-hashing of this earlier work of hers, and I did notice the odd name with two different spellings and some erroneous punctuation; I mention this for two reasons. Firstly, in case you're someone whose whole reading experience is spoiled by an ill-placed semicolon, and secondly (most importantly!) to illustrate how good this book is. I am beyond picky about punctuation, but I loved this book so much that I didn't care if the character was called Dorcas or Dorcus or if an unnecessary comma popped up.
I am happy to say that if you love beautifully written and well-researched historical sagas, I guarantee you will enjoy this as much as I did.
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