In This House of Brede follows Philippa through her first years in the abbey and not only her, but many of the other nuns who live there as well. There are so many wonderful secondary characters I could not even begin to list them all, but a few come to mind. Dame Agnes – fiercely intelligent and not inclined to suffer fools gladly. Dame Maura – a brilliant musician and a woman whose heart is almost too kind. Dame Veronica – a talented poet, but a woman who came into the convent living a lie. Dame Cecily – a woman of extraordinary beauty who is torn between her very real desire to be a nun and her feelings for Larry Talbot, who loves her. And Dame Catherine the abbess – a woman who was thrust into a position of leadership who is outwardly confident – never letting anyone know how unsure she is. This book treats the life of a convent’s inhabitants with love and sympathy. The nuns are not at all plaster saints, nor are they twisted and frustrated individuals. They are flesh and blood women who are, as Phillipa puts it – not in the world, but are still very much of it.