{"product_id":"9780007335510_the-gentry-stories-of-the-english","title":"The Gentry: Stories of the English","description":"\u003cp\u003eAdam Nicolson tells the story of England through the history of fourteen gentry families – from the 15th century to the present day. This sparkling work of history reads like a real-life Downton Abbey, as the loves, hatreds and many times of grief of his chosen cast illuminate the grand events of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe may well be ‘a nation of shopkeepers’, but for generations England was a country dominated by its middling families, rooted on their land, in their locality, with a healthy interest in turning a profit from their property and a deep distrust of the centralised state. The virtues we may all believe to be part of the English culture – honesty, affability, courtesy, liberality – each of these has their source in gentry life cultivated over five hundred years. These folk were the backbone of England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdam Nicolson’s riveting new book concentrates on fourteen families, from 1400 to the present day. From the medieval gung-ho of the Plumpton family to the high-seas adventures of the Lascelles in the eighteenth century, to more modern examples, the book provides a chronological picture of the English, seen through these intimate, passionate, powerful stories of family saga. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished archive material, here is a vivid depiction of the life and code of the gentry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘The Gentry’ is first and foremost a wonderful sweep of English history, shedding light on the creation of the distinctive English character but with the sheer readability of an epic novel.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Adam Nicolson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47284887617685,"sku":"9780007335510","price":9.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780007335510.jpg?v=1776992104","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780007335510_the-gentry-stories-of-the-english","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}