China Court
Manderley Press is delighted to announce the publication of a brand-new edition of Rumer Godden’s classic Cornish novel - China Court: The Hours of a Country House.
First published in the 1961 and now re-issued with an introduction by the award-winning and bestselling author Linda Grant, and illustrated by the acclaimed artist Emily Maude.
Each book ordered through the website is wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a matching silk ribbon, free of charge - and also includes an exclusive bookmark designed to complement the cover design.
Worldwide shipping available - and please do contact us at info@manderleypress.com with any postage queries, or if you don’t see you country listed on the drop down menu in the checkout area.
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Spellbinding, powerfully evocative, shocking – a stay-up-until-2am kind of a book
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China Court is the story of the hours and days of a country house in Cornwall, and five generations of the family who inhabited it. First we meet Ripsie, once an outsider orphan who rose to become a powerful matriarch, and her granddaughter Tracy, the daughter of a film star raised abroad, who returns to her adored family home – China Court – following her grandmother’s death. As Tracy fights to save the old house, her ancestors reveal themselves; family history unfurls; hearts are broken; treasures are discovered; redemption and hope prevail. Or so it seems at first glance.
Master storyteller Rumer Godden weaves a golden thread back and forth throughout this novel – her exquisite prose and detailed observations of place and character enthralling us as she moves seamlessly between past and present, telling the story of the Quin family, and rewarding the reader with an ending that still provokes profound unease over sixty years after it was first published.
A mere passing thought, moonlight through a window or the scent of a flower from the gardens of China Court is enough to spark a memory of incidents long ago, which in turn are used to illuminate the complex family dramas and secrets that emerge as the narrative of this book unfolds.
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...
Reviews
“Rumer Godden’s ‘China Court’ is the sort of timeless English novel that wears as well as a Burberry and is just as impervious to vagaries of fashion.”
The Los Angeles Times“Godden was a writer who constantly drew on her own life experiences.”
The Guardian“Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty.”
The New York Times
Rumer Godden (1907–98) was the acclaimed author of over 60 works of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Born in England, she and her siblings grew up in Narayanganj, India, and she later spent many years living in Calcutta and Kashmir. Several of her novels were made into films, including Black Narcissus, The Greengage Summer and The River, which was filmed by Jean Renoir. She was appointed OBE in 1993.
Linda Grant was born in Liverpool, England in 1951, and read English at the University of York. Her first novel, The Cast Iron Shore (1996), won the David Higham Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Her second, When I Lived in Modern Times (2000), set in Palestine immediately after the Second World War, won the Orange Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction. Her novel, Still Here (2002), set in Liverpool, tells the story of a middle-aged English woman and her relationship with an American architect. Her non-fiction includes Sexing the Millennium: A Political History of the Sexual Revolution (1993) and Remind Me Who I Am, Again (1998), an account of her mother's dementia, which won the MIND Book of the Year/Allen Lane Award. The People on the Street: A Writer's View of Israel (2006), was winner of the 2006 Lettre Ulysses Award; and The Clothes on Their Backs (2008) was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The Thoughtful Dresser (2009) was followed by We Had It So Good (2011) and Upstairs at the Party (2014). Linda’s seventh novel The Dark Circle (2016) was shortlisted for the Bailey’s Prize and the Wingate Prize; her next novel, A Stranger City, was published in 2019 and won the Wingate Literary prize for 2020, and her latest novel, The Story of the Forest, was published to international acclaim in 2023. She has lived in London since 1984.
Emily Maude is an illustrator and designer based in Brighton. Her artwork has been commissioned by clients around the world, including Anthropologie, Fragonard, Liberty and Paul Smith. She has illustrated books and articles featured in The New York Times, Octopus Publishing, Canns Down Press and Amazon, among many others. Emily is also an experienced retail consultant, buyer and product developer, and currently works for the National Theatre, London.
