[A] preposterously entertaining history of the postwar country house... reading it is rather like leafing through an old leather-bound Smythson address book whose well-connected owner has helpfully added waspish notes, gossip and the odd family tree. In other words, it's heaven. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
Adrian Tinniswood's rollicking study perfectly captures the combination of decadence, pathos and brazen cheek that kept the English country house alive when it faced disaster. -- John Walsh * Sunday Times *
[A] brilliant new history of the country house since 1945... Tinniswood tells...[the] story superbly, his racy anecdotes mined not just from the usual memoirs, but from a studious trawl of endless local papers. -- Marcus Binney * Daily Telegraph *
Beautifully orchestrated... a compulsive read, deliciously voyeuristic and yet a triumph of meticulous social and cultural scholarship. * Country Life *
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 *
As this beautifully illustrated volume shows, the 1950s and the 1960s saw a renaissance as rock concerts replaced hunt balls and the doors of ancient family seats were thrown open to paying customers. Tinniswood chronicles it all in lively detail. -- Nick Rennison * Daily Mail *
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 *
As this beautifully illustrated volume shows, the 1950s and the 1960s saw a renaissance as rock concerts replaced hunt balls and the doors of ancient family seats were thrown open to paying customers. Tinniswood chronicles it all in lively detail. -- Nick Rennison * Daily Mail, *Books of the Year* *
