{"product_id":"a-house-in-the-country-9781913527235","title":"A House in the Country","description":"\u003cp\u003e\" I]f only we could make the manor subscribe a little bit towards her own upkeep,\" we fretted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSix 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 . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on the actual experiences of Ruth Adam, her husband, and their friends, \u003cem\u003eA House in the Country\u003c\/em\u003e 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 \u003cem\u003eDownton Abbey.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dean Street Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/03\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781913527235\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 206\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.80h x 5.08w x 0.47d","brand":"Ruth Adam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36670563025052,"sku":"9781913527235","price":14.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_7cd74af9-791f-4506-bf53-d858348c1c8b.jpg?v=1603923012","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/a-house-in-the-country-9781913527235","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}