The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House 1918-1939
by Adrian Tinniswood, Jonathan Cape, £25
The standard image of the English country house between the wars is one of decline, be it gentle or abrupt. Properties were “deserted and dismantled and demolished”, while families, missing heirs and husbands because of the 1914-18 conflict, struggled to cope with the “psychology of loss”. Adrian Tinniswood sees some truth in this but also reminds us of an alternative narrative of survival and vibrancy.
