The Long Weekend : Life in the English Country House Between the Wars

The Sunday Times bestseller

All that glitters is not gold – join Adrian Tinniswood as he uncovers the truth behind life in the English country house.

During the 1920s and 1930s, as the sun set slowly on the British Empire, England's stately homes concealed worlds both opulent and ordinary, noble and vicious. This was a life draped in myth, hidden behind stiff upper lips and film-star smiles.

Drawing on hundreds of memoirs, on unpublished letters and diaries, on the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls, unhappy heiresses and bullying butlers, "The Long Weekend" reveals how the image of the country house was carefully protected by its occupants above and below stairs, and how the reality was so much more interesting than the dream.

'A masterpiece of social history' Daily Mail