SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER: A BBC RADIO COLLECTION: INCLUDING LOLLY WILLOWES & THE TRUE HEART

THE CORNER THAT HELD THEM

The nuns who enter a medieval Norfolk convent are told to renounce the world, but the world still finds ways to trouble them, whether it is through fire, floods, pestilence, a collapsing spire, jealous rivalries, a priest with a secret or a plague of caterpillars. As we follow their daily lives over three centuries, this masterpiece of historical fiction re-creates a world run by women.

THE CORNER THAT HELD THEM

An outbreak of the Black Death, the collapse of the convent spire, the Bishop's visitation and a nun's disappearance are interwoven with the everyday life of the nuns, novices, successive Pioresses and the nun's priest in a 14th century Benedictine community.

LOLLY WILLOWES

Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft.

LOLLY WILLOWES

Lolly is a 28-year-old spinster when her adored father dies, leaving her dependent upon her brothers and their wives. But she rebels against pressure to be the perfect 'maiden aunt' and after 20 years of self-effacement she decides to break free.