A novel about a British manor in the country during the post-war era? That is totally up my alley! When I ran across “A House in the Country” I just knew it would be the perfect selection for our September LWD Book Club.
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A House in the Country
I’m every bit as much an Anglophile as a Francophile. I also enjoy reading about WWII and post-war England. I am really looking forward to escaping to the British countryside for several hours this month…even if it’s only through the pages of a book.
A House in the Country
by Ruth Adam
“[I]f only we could make the manor subscribe a little bit towards her own upkeep,” we fretted.
But she was an aristocratic lady on our hands. All ideas for making her work for a living were wrecked on the fact that she was born to be served and not to serve.
Six friends have spent the dark, deprived years of World War II fantasising—in air raid shelters and food queues—about an idyllic life in a massive country house. With the coming of peace, they seize on a seductive newspaper ad and take possession of a neglected 33-room manor in Kent, with acres of lavish gardens and an elderly gardener yearning to revive the estate’s glory days. But the realities of managing this behemoth soon dawn, including a knife-wielding maid, unruly pigs, and a paying guest who tells harrowing stories of her time in the French Resistance, not to mention the friends’ conscientious efforts to offer staff a fair 40-hour work week and paid overtime. And then there’s the ghost of an overworked scullery maid . . .
Based on the actual experiences of Ruth Adam, her husband, and their friends, A House in the Country is a witty and touching novel about the perils of dreams come true. But it’s also a constantly entertaining tale packed with fascinating details of post-war life—and about the realities of life in the kind of house most of us only experience via Downton Abbey.
WHAT ARE YOU READING LATELY?
Other LWD Book Club Selections:
What’s better than curling up with a good book and a delicious cup of tea? And when the tea is named “Reading Nook“? Perfection.
Plum Deluxe “Reading Nook” tea blend
This book sounds really good! The two libraries I frequent don’t have it, but I’m going to ask my main library if they’ll order it for me. Thanks for the suggestion.
I’m currently reading The Girl Who Smiled Beads. It’s fantastic, but a bit harrowing at times. True story of a young girl who was a refugee in Africa and came to the States.
I hope you are able to find a copy. I have a subscription to Scribd and that’s where I found it. Thanks for the book recommendation!