Norah Lofts 
House at Old Vine 

The House at Old Vine is the second in a trilogy of novels by Norah Lofts about the inhabitants of a country house in Suffolk from the late fourteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. Covering the turbulent years of 1496 to 1680, it follows six generations of the descendants of Martin Reed, who founded the 'House’ dynasty through his act of rebellion in The Town House, through persecution, war and revolution, from the era of Christopher Columbus to the Restoration of Charles II. Written with Lofts’ customary attention to historical detail, this is a series of stories about characters who lived and died for what they believed.