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.