The Long Weekend, Adrian Tinniswood
The Long Weekend, Adrian Tinniswood
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The Long Weekend
Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939

Author: Adrian Tinniswood

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Unabridged: 11 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/27/2016


Synopsis

As World War I drew to a close, change reverberated through the halls of England's country homes. As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, the shadows lengthened on the lawns of a thousand stately homes.

In The Long Weekend, historian Adrian Tinniswood introduces us to the tumultuous, scandalous, and glamorous history of English country houses during the years between world wars. As estate taxes and other challenges forced many of these venerable houses onto the market, new sectors of British and American society were seduced by the dream of owning a home in the English countryside. Drawing on thousands of memoirs, letters, and diaries, as well as the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls and bibulous butlers, Tinniswood brings the stately homes of England to life as never before, opening the door to a world by turns opulent and ordinary, noble and vicious, and forever wrapped in myth.

Through the glitz of estate parties, the social tensions between old money and new, the hunting parties, illicit trysts, and grand feasts, Tinniswood offers a glimpse behind the veil of these great estates—and reveals a reality much more riveting than the dream.

About Adrian Tinniswood

Adrian Tinniswood is a Senior Research Fellow in History at the University of Buckingham and the author of many books, including The Rainborowes. He lives in Bath, England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Angie on May 13, 2016

The Long Weekend is an "insider" look at English country houses during the time period of 1918-1939. A lot of this is a "Who's Who" of houses -- pretty much anything you would want to know about who purchased certain houses, when, and how they changed them. It focused a good bit as well on what a ty......more

Goodreads review by Mark on February 11, 2025

Histories of English country houses generally can be divided into two categories. The first are the ones that lean towards the analytical, providing examinations of the design, construction, or operations of the houses. The second are more elegiac in tone, offering wistful accounts of a bygone world......more