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The Long Weekend
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-
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 227
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By Winston Churchill's own admission, victory in the Second World War would have been "impossible without her". Until now, however, the only existing biography of Churchill's wife, Clementine, was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story, revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR's initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain's close relationship with America.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I learned a lot about cultural norms..even today's
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
Kensington Palace is now most famous as the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales, but the palace's glory days came between 1714 and 1760, during the reigns of George I and II. In the 18th century, this palace was a world of skullduggery, intrigue, politicking, etiquette, wigs, and beauty spots, where fans whistled open like switchblades and unusual people were kept as curiosities. Lucy Worsley's The Courtiers charts the trajectory of the fantastically quarrelsome Hanovers and the last great gasp of British court life.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
In The Art of the English Murder, Lucy Worsley explores this phenomenon in forensic detail, revisiting notorious crimes like the Ratcliff Highway Murders, which caused a nationwide panic in the early 19th century, and the case of Frederick and Maria Manning, the suburban couple who were hanged after killing Maria's lover and burying him under their kitchen floor. Our fascination with crimes like these became a form of national entertainment, inspiring novels and plays, prose and paintings, poetry and true-crime journalism.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Should Come With a Spoiler Alert
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When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America’s oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone’s boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no? This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book, shame there wasn't a recipe PDF
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Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch
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- Original Recording
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,822
Respected royal broadcaster Jennie Bond narrates the life story of Queen Elizabeth II, and takes listeners inside the private life of one of the most public figures in modern history. Learn intimate details of Elizabeth's childhood, her courtship and marriage, and the tragic moments following the death of Princess Diana. Born a minor royal in 1926, Elizabeth is now the longest-reigning British monarch and also the most recognizable woman in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Thoroughly Enjoyable From Start To Finish
- By Julia on 04-16-16
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The Housekeeper's Tale
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 150
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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Story4 out of 5 stars 139
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Utterly intriguing
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That Churchill Woman
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 237
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 217
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The Paris Wife meets PBS’s Victoria in this enthralling novel of the life and loves of one of history’s most remarkable women: Winston Churchill’s scandalous American mother, Jennie Jerome.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A must read!
- By Sharon on 05-06-19
Publisher's Summary
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 eyewitness 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.
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Overall
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4 out of 5 stars
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4 out of 5 stars
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- Eileen
- Charlotte, NC, United States
- 08-06-17
Not What I Thought I Was
The first chapter delivers on the promise of an excellent idea- and then the book wanders off into a plodding list of lost properties. Informational if you can sit through it, otherwise an excellent sleep aid
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Shawn Humphrey
- Texas
- 09-19-18
Informational but a little dry at times
This snapshot of English country life, at times, demonstrates the wit and scandal fans of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey may expect. But at times it runs dry as a recitation of several example great houses emphasizing a point. When the book focuses on a single great estate or family it's at its strongest.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- K. Holm
- Upstate NY
- 09-09-17
primarily a book of architecture
A very misleading title as very little of county life and tradition is described. Disappointing.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful