{"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","brand":"Dean Street Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50553702514962,"sku":"9781913527235","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fdb2c80a-50df-4fd0-af98-4eb0c012471c.jpg?v=1731702368","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-house-in-the-country-9781913527235","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}