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

by Adrian Tinniswood Narrated by Steven Crossley

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/28/2016
English writer and historian Tinniswood (The Rainborowes) elegantly explores the glamorous interwar age of English rural getaways, revealing the not-so-secret affairs of the inhabitants and the reinterpretation of architectural and interior design (particularly the “Wrenaissance” style of the Edwardian Baroque). In the years between the World Wars, sprawling country houses returned to fashion thanks to burgeoning railroad travel. The English nobility—and even royalty, such as the future Edward VIII—enjoyed their minipalace getaways, and soon the trend caught on with the nouveau riche—in particular Americans such as William Randolph Hearst, with his “English” castle in Wales. Plenty of famous and infamous people frequented these weekend homes, but Tinniswood provides little background to make non-British readers unaware of some of the ironies—such as the sight of the revolutionary Gore-Booth sisters in their own Anglo-Irish country house. Instead, Tinniswood’s examination—complete with gorgeous images—centers on architecture and design; he admires quality no matter the style and notes where it’s missing, especially where a new spouse muddled a project’s coherence. Tinniswood’s lovely chronological ode to a past lifestyle brims with tales of the elite’s tumultuous weekends and shows how the country house’s purpose changed with the times as the old social order came to a close. Photos. Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (May)

From the Publisher

"[Tinniswood] reveals the English country house as a vibrant enterprise, benefitting from new owners, money, and architects bringing contemporary ideas to the art of country living. Informative and entertaining, Tinniswood's meticulous research brings us familiar names, such as the Astors and Edward VIII, while introducing us to lesser-known homeowners who wished to create their own modernist vision."—Library Journal

"Tinniswood elegantly explores the glamorous interwar age of English rural getaways, revealing the not-so-secret affairs of the inhabitants and the reinterpretation of architectural and interior design.... Tinniswood's lovely chronological ode to a past lifestyle brims with tales of the elite's tumultuous weekends and shows how the country house's purpose changed with the times as the old social order came to a close."—Publishers Weekly

"With scholarly aplomb and gossipy relish, historian Tinniswood pulls open the grand front doors of these captivating castles to reveal their innermost workings and outward allure. Now that Downton Abbey is no more, fans of this halcyon, refined world can once again immerse themselves in Britain's quintessential golden era."—Booklist

"Beguiling.... Stuffed with eye-catching detail and apt quotations."—Wall Street Journal

"Tinniswood gives us many entertaining stories about the whimsical extravagances of the new country-housers.... The Long Weekend is a celebration of fantasy and yearning cunningly wrapped up in pragmatism and practicality: about ancient castles with top-plumbing."—Financial Times

"An engaging new account of inter-war country-house life.... Mr. Tinniswood provides rich detail from all corners, uncovering plenty of angst, but also much optimism—until 1939."—The Economist

"Swans in the moat, inglenooks and romantic conservatism...but Adrian Tinniswood's hugely enjoyable, unsnobbish book uncovers another, more subversive, side to the story."—The Guardian (UK)

"[The] book combines a panoramic view of life and architecture in the interwar years with pin-sharp detail and the sort of springy prose that comes with a complete command of the material."—The London Review of Books (UK)

"[A] masterpiece of social history."—The Daily Mail (UK)

"Tinniswood is a learned architectural scholar without a jot of pedantry. He has produced a luscious, summery book, full of amiable anecdotes and photographs of striking interiors, celebrating headstrong optimists who defied the defeatism of the times. The Long Weekend resembles a well-kept hothouse festooned with fruit ripe for the plucking."—Richard Davenport-Hines, Sunday Times (UK)

"[W]onderfully opulent, richly textured..... In telling us how the English country house changed, [Tinniswood] is, of course, telling us how England changed, too."—Sunday Telegraph (UK)

"Tinniswood's book is erudite, funny, and oddly poignant."—Literary Review (UK)

"[H]ighly enjoyable... this is a delicious cocktail of a book, combining many ingredients and presenting an informed survey of the interwar years as seductively as that period (at least in this rarified sphere) demands."—Country Life (UK) Book of the Week

"[A] richly researched story about the rise and fall and transformation of country-house living.... An enjoyable tour with a genial, informed, devoted docent."—Kirkus

"Still yearning for Downton Abbey? Adrian Tinniswood's The Long Weekend :Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939 is probably the necessary antidote. A wonky, veritable tell-all, a who's who of British gentry.... Tales about piracy, crookery and shenanigans involving the supremely well-to-do are always intriguing and entertaining."—Washington Times

"It can't have been easy, but Adrian Tinniswood and his publishers should be congratulated for issuing this elegant, encyclopaedic and entertaining history of English country house life between the wars without ever once mentioning Downton Abbey.... The Long Weekend supplies a potent fix of period locations, upstairs-downstairs drama and higher gossip—all of it factual—for the most Downton-addicted of readers.... We are in the company of a confident and skilled historian who understands the mores of his era and wears his learning lightly.... Tinniswood expands our Sunday evening viewing with the kind of detail you can't invent, from gay badinage with the butler to Benzedrine in the cocktails, from the zebras at Leeds Castle to the Brazilian capybaras that ran wild at Eaton Hall. The Long Weekend deserves to be on every costume drama producer's bookshelf."—The Times (UK), Book of the Week

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"Informative and entertaining." —Library Journal

Library Journal - Audio

04/01/2017
English historian Tinniswood has written a fascinating history of life in the English country house between the world wars. A weekend retreat for the elite, the homes were used for social gatherings, hunting parties, and as symbols of social status. The years following World War I saw the steady decline of these estates, as high taxes and other factors put a strain on their owners. Tinniswood focuses in each chapter on an individual aspect, ranging from social manners and daily life to the design, interior decor, and renovations (electricity and swimming pools were must-haves). In addition to the tantalizing descriptions of the architecture and furnishings, the book is sprinkled with colorful personalities such as the fabulously wealthy politician Philip Sassoon, who entertained artists and celebrities at his sybaritic mansion, Port Lympne, and interior decorator Sybil Colefax, whose clients were sometimes baffled to find that their furniture did not match and their library curtains were hung inside-out. Steven Crossley's refined narration is perfect for the subject matter, sounding like he just stepped out of a scene from Downton Abbey. VERDICT This audiobook will be of interest to fans of architecture and history. ["Will appeal to those interested in 20th-century English social history": LJ 3/15/16 review of the Basic: Perseus hc.]—Phillip Oliver, formerly with Univ. of North Alabama, Florence

Library Journal

03/15/2016
Traditional thinking holds that the English country house fell into inexorable decline during the years between the two World Wars. Sold off piecemeal, abandoned to rot, or often demolished, many residences suffered when staff shortages and social upheaval following World War II meant that extensive Edwardian estates could no longer function. Challenging this theory, Tinniswood (history, Univ. of Buckingham; The Rainborowes) here uses his architectural historian's brush to paint another picture. He reveals the English country house as a vibrant enterprise, benefitting from new owners, money, and architects bringing contemporary ideas to the art of country living. Informative and entertaining, Tinniswood's meticulous research brings us familiar names, such as the Astors and Edward VIII, while introducing us to lesser-known homeowners who wished to create their own modernist vision. VERDICT This book is a natural complement to Clive Aslet's The Last Country House and will appeal to those interested in 20th-century English social history, especially those who cherish the subject as a symbol of "a still point at the center of a maelstrom of cultural and social change."—Penelope J.M. Klein, Fayetteville, NY

Kirkus Reviews

2016-02-28
A nostalgic account of life at English country houses during the interbellum era. Tinniswood, who has written frequently about English cultural history—from pirates (Pirates of Barbary, 2010) to architecture (The Arts and Crafts House, 1999)—returns with a richly researched story about the rise and fall and transformation of country-house living, the effects on same of World War I and the arrival of World War II, and numerous other aspects of the phenomenon. In each chapter the author focuses on a different perspective: the emergence of the country house, country-house living of the royals, various restorations of some places that date back to the Elizabethan era, the arrival of moneyed Americans, upstairs/downstairs stuff, and the changes wrought by more bohemian occupants. Tinniswood teaches us about shooting, hunting, tennis, and golf (some owners built links on their grounds). We learn a lot about the designers, remodelers, occupants, and sales and purchases as well as the endless array of names of these places: Castle Drogo, Gladstone Park, and the like. The author does not suggest that there is anything untoward about any of this vast wealth in the midst of vast poverty, probably calculating that this is the sort of text that will appeal to the myriad viewers of Downton Abbey. Tinniswood includes plenty of engaging details and amusing anecdotes—e.g., one owner's idea for stringing electrical wires: "they prized up a floorboard at one end and dropped a dead rabbit into the void; then they prized up a floorboard at the other end and unleashed a ferret, with a string tied to his collar. When the ferret had managed to negotiate the joists and reach the rabbit, the string was used to pull through a cable and, hey, presto! The problem was solved." Although there are many pictures and illustrations throughout, readers will surely wish for more images of these remarkable dwellings. An enjoyable tour with a genial, informed, devoted docent.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170868117
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/27/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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