Can a house built from the ashes of tragedy ever be a place of lasting happiness? Can the hereditary mix of wild gypsy lore, fierce independence, magic and mystery truly settle in a respectable home? The Town House is the first in Norah Lofts' enduringly popular Suffolk Trilogy about the Old Vine at Baildon. Built in the late fourteenth century by Martin Reed, a runaway serf who had defied his master for the woman he loved, the house was to change and grow for six centuries. In its very foundations it held secrets and lies, passionate love and deep despair. The vast scope of The Suffolk Trilogy - continued with The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset - involves the reader in a fascinating journey through time. In The Town House, Norah Lofts evokes fourteenth- and fifteenth-century life from the perspective of five different characters. Her sympathetic touch and ability to imbue each character with life involves us from the first to the last page. She convincingly recreates the historical era in which each character lives, not merely to set the scene but to add an understanding of why and how they act as they do.

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