Arden Priory has remained unchanged for almost four hundred years. When a nameless child is abandoned at the gatehouse door, the nuns take her in and raise her as one of their own.As Henry VIII’s second queen dies on the scaffold, the embittered King strikes out, and unprecedented change sweeps across the country. The bells of the great abbeys fall silent, the church and the very foundation of … foundation of the realm begins to crack.
Determined to preserve their way of life, novitiate nuns Margery and Grace join a pilgrimage thirty thousand strong to lead the king back to grace.
Sisters of Arden is a story of valour, virtue and veritas.
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4.5 stars
In a Nutshell: Historical fiction, about Henry VIII’s dissolution of religious houses, and the Pilgrimage of Grace, from a nun’s point of view.
Margery is a young girl who has known nothing of life but the tiny, isolated Arden Priory in North Yorkshire, when Henry VIII gives the order for Catholic religious houses across the land to be dissolved. Cast out to fend for herself, along with two other young women and a small baby, the novel is about her dangerous journeys to York and Pontefract, the news she hears about the uprisings against the atrocities committed in the King’s name, and her journey back to what she hopes will be safety.
Judith Arnopp describes the world of Margery so well; I liked seeing the 16th century from the POV of the ordinary people, so far away from that of the aristocracy and nobility that they might as well have inhabited another planet. Ms Arnopp has a lovely, easy-to-read writing style, and it is clear that the book is well-researched without the research ever seeming intrusive.
It’s a short novel, and at times I would have liked more detail about various events, but there was no part that I didn’t enjoy. The ‘Author’s Note’ at the end is most interesting, and I was intrigued to find out that Arden Priory actually existed; on the whole, Sisters of Arden made me want to read more about the time, which is a sign of good historical fiction. The ending gives hope for the future, with a different purpose for Margery.
I liked this book very much and would most definitely recommend to anyone who likes well-written, authentic fiction based on fact about this period.
4 stars
The reign of terror was fearful to behold in the time of King Henry VIII. Even the poorest religious houses are harassed by the king’s men as is illustrated in this very good novel about the life and times of the nuns at Arden Abbey.
Margery is perhaps twelve and has lived at the abbey all her life. She is what is known as a lay sister. She is the central character in the story and it is told from her point of view. The sisters’ work is hard and unrelenting, but they seem relatively content – until the king’s men show up to persecute them.
With King Henry VIII’s split from the Roman Catholic Church (and setting himself up as the head of the Church of England), and his subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn came the brutal repression of monasteries and abbeys in England. It did not matter how wealthy or poor the various institutions were the King’s Chancellor Thomas Cromwell was ruthless in suppressing them. They were stripped of their “valuables,” their crops destroyed and their livestock slaughtered or scattered. There were several political motivations for this, but this is not the proper arena for that discussion. This book is about Margery and her fellow sisters. And it tells a very good, down-to-earth tale of her strife and suffering.
There are some clauses that go nowhere and are out of place. I hope this is corrected before this book go for publishing. If one overlooks this glaring set of errors, the novel is well written and interspersed with both touching and terrifying action scenes. This is my first Judith Arnopp book and I will be looking into her other works as well.
I want to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for forwarding to me a copy of this good, but short, book for me to read, enjoy and review.