Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893 - 1978) was an English novelist and poet. Her work, which often revolves around the position of women and their sexuality in a patriarchal society, is widely considered to be some of the most daring feminist writing of the twentieth century.
A classic, whose resonance deepens inside the reader in proportion to its austere, luminous discretion. Also, as it happens, a work of high, frequent comedy. As an act of imagined history this novel has few rivals * The Times Literary Supplement * A spellbinding piece of historical fiction-spare, luminous. . . . One starts rereading as soon as one has reached the last page * The Sunday Times * A magnificent recreation of the life of a medieval convent * The Daily Telegraph *