Description
Reviews continued: A vastly entertaining account of the crisis that befell England’s stately homes in the decades immediately after the war. — Simon Heffer― Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*. Tinniswood…[is] an erudite historian of country-house life in all its anecdote-worthy vagaries. — Miranda Seymour ― Financial Times. By turns warm, sympathetic, sly and analytical, Tinniswood examines the complex history of the post-war country house with skill, grace, clarity – and charity. A triumph. — Judith Flanders. Tinniswood’s meticulously researched and entertaining study…provides a brilliant insight into a much overlooked period. Few authors can combine serious social history with the sometimes sad and often hilarious narratives of country-house life in the way that Tinniswood can. — Jeremy Musson. [A] highly enjoyable, gossipy read with a gasp on every page; a must for the bedside tables of every guest bedroom, and every stately home gift shop. — Mary S. Lovell. Nobody is better qualified to tell this tale of loss and transformation, in all its human complexity, than Adrian Tinniswood. A master of the sources, he brings the past to life through his vivid writing and seemingly bottomless fund of stories. — Clive Aslet. This is a rollicking book. — James Stourton ― Literary Review. Tinniswood’s springy prose is clear-eyed when it comes to analysing the self-interest that lies at the heart of the country house life… [and his] eye for a juicy anecdote provides the raw material for the book’s 20 chapters. — Oliver Cox ― Apollo. It is a joy to know that so many of these wonderful buildings have been saved, and to learn about them through this book. — Anne de Courcy ― Spectator