Domestic Life in England

By Norah Lofts

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385115377
• ISBN13: 9780385115377
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

WHAT A FUN, INFORMATIVE AND DELIGHTFUL WORK. READ THIS ONE!

Domestic Life in England by Norah Lofts was published back around 1976. To this date I have not found a more delightful, informative and entertaining book covering this particular subject. Known primarily for her many and wonderful historical novels, Ms Lofts turns her hand here to the history of England and covers domestic life in that country from around the 12th century up until the late 1970s. This 240 page, over sized book contains 16 color pages and 125 black-and-white illustrations, from ancient tapestries, to wood cuts to art reproductions. The illustrations are only the tip of the iceberg though. The wealth of information found in the text of this work is difficult to describe and is the true gem and center piece of this work. The author covers subjects as clothing, diet, culinary practices, manners, education, living habits, table manners, furniture, food, medicine, sanitation, superstitions, religious practices, attitudes and so much more. In many ways this is a history of women and their lives as they were the center, as always, of the domestic realm. We find them treated as no more than mere chattel (actually, even worse in many cases) to supposedly equal status in our present era. After reading this (and other works of kind) it is difficult to understand how the human race has survived as long as it has. This work is not a work of political history, although there is naturally a bit of that as background, nor is it a history of war, although there is a bit of that as background also. It is a history of how the people, both high stationed and low, lived on a daily basis. Relationship between individuals, such as servants and master, husband and wife, neighbors and friends are examined in detail. We see inside the English home, walk down the streets of its towns and inhabit the castles as Lofts weavers her story. The main point to note though is that this is an extremely readable book. I hate to use the term "page turner," but in this case I am almost forced to. I personally was fascinated with the sheer difficulty of just staying alive in the filth and squalor of many of those past times. The lack of education, medicine, comfort, food, clothing, housing or even something clean to drink makes it a wonder that people were able to survive. Another aspect that was amazing is that this was not just the extremely poor who suffered so much; it was also the rich, even into the ruling classes. When all is said and done, the average woman of that time was not better off as a queen, than a lowly peasant. Now I know a good argument can be made that much of the world is not living much better now than those people did then. That though is a subject for another book and another study. I am a trivia freak and I admit it and I collect little facts like lint on a black pair of socks. This book is completely filled with out of the way information that I simply have not found collected on one book at any time. Needless to sa

More Norah Lofts, Please!

I waited a long time before I could get my hands on a copy of this wonderful history of home and family life in England. It is a great backdrop to many of the authors' wonderful historical novels, and includes many great illustrations. Lots of little interesting bits of info about the state of being a female from the 12th century up to the the late 1970's. I was not dissapointed.