The Long Weekend English 2026

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Venture behind closed doors to uncover the secrets of life in the interwar country house...

During the 1920s and 1930s, as the sun set slowly on the British Empire, England's stately homes concealed worlds both opulent and ordinary, noble and viscious. This was a realm draped in myth, hidden behind stiff upper lips and film-star smiles.

Drawing on hundreds of memoirs, on unpublished letters and diaries, on the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls, unhappy heiresses and bullying butlers, The Long Weekend reveals how the image of the country house was carefully protected by its occupants above and below stairs, and how the reality was so much more interesting than the dream.

'A perfect piece of escapism' Guardian

'A delicious cocktail of a book' Country Life

'Elegant, encyclopaedic and entertaining' The Times