The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner

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There was a reference to this novel in a book I was reading recently, but I can't remember which or even what the context was, although I have a vauge feeling it was something to do with questions of faith and hypocrisy …

The novel is acclaimed, the edition I read merited a literary introduction. This acclaim is mostly to do with the “form” of the novel – Sylvia claimed that there was no plot. There is perhaps certain unifying themes but there is not a narrative arc – there is not real “beginning”, “middle”, or “end”.

While this might have been a radical move for a novel when published in the late 1940s, the ensemble cast of Nuns, who come in and out of focus as the mini-dramas of their individual lives rise and fall, has the character of a soap opera.

It is a good read, but I struggled to see what it was that makes it a notable work.

Parliament, The Biography by Chris Bryant

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In this first Volume, Bryant gives a very readable account of the evolution of our Parliament over around 500 years up until 1800 – with a great focus on the Commons.

What is particular about this account is that Bryant picks up the individuals – refusing to subscribe to those that see great overarching dynamics – and is especially critical of the so called Whig history. For Bryant there was nothing inevitable about the moves toward democracy – expediency and opportunist action have shaped our history.

Many of those that were key to move the role of Parliament forward did so only from self-interest – democracy appears to be the unintended consequence of varying and completing efforts to feather ones nest.

This might sound like a depressing analysis – that we are the product of grubby deals rather than lofty ideals – but I rather like the humanising effect, the story is that people matter, with all the complexity of personality and relationships that they bring with them.

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The second part brings us up until Margaret Thatcher's departure from No 10 (although Bryant does in fact refer to some recent developments). This second part is arrangement more thematically, with chapters on the way War, Women, and Alcohol, among others, have shaped developments in Parliament.

One interesting feature is the growth in the power of the Executive, mostly during the two world wars, and so a weakening of the influence of Parliament. The arrival of democracy, in the form of universal suffrage, largely coincided with the grip of the Executive tightening. Bryant makes the point that in the 19^th Century there were complaints about 150 or so Crown appointments (mostly sinecures) which gave the Monarch control over Parliament, these were abolished, yet now the Government has similar numbers, with an army of junior ministers and Parliament Private Secretaries – we have come full circle?

As with the first volume this is a highly readable account, rich telling the stories of individuals, with the continuing theme of evolution by accident rather than design.