By Rumer Godden

Favorite quote: “Perhaps Mrs. Quin loves the garden best in winter; the the shapes are seen, shapes of bush and branch and twig, outlines of paths, humps of granite rock, broken by the darkness of the yews. Flowers are few then, doubly precious … Sometimes in January, when the rare snow comes, the waterfall has icicles and Mrs. Quinn watches for the first plum blossom; if it comes into flower then, it gives the garden the look of a Japanese print.”

From the publisher: Yet this is also the story of a house, and of the Cornish china clay country where it is set. Rumer Godden was inspired by her own family home of Darrynane in St Breward, Cornwall, and a grand old house in the Cornish village of Blisland. Thus China Court was created, replete with furniture, portraits, silver and china heirlooms passed down through generations – a haven that sheltered and nurtured the family who lived there. Characters come and go, but the reader stays put, observing the ebb and flow of the Quins from the confines of their family home, surrounded by treasured possessions and the memories they evoke. China Court, too, is a protagonist from start to finish.

It is perhaps fitting that this is also a book about books, with a precious antique Book of Hours providing the structure to Godden’s narrative; meanwhile, in the end, it is books themselves that prove to be the key to the Quin family redemption, if not happiness ever after...

Dimensions: 8 x 5.25 / 379 pages

Hardcover

This Manderley Press edition is exquisitely produced, as a small hardback, quarter-bound in real cloth and printed on high quality uncoated paper, with tail bands and a foil-blocked spine.