
Three Houses, Many Lives
Gillian Tindall(Author)
Vintage (Publisher)
Published on 6. June 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-09-954703-7 (ISBN)
Description
'A major achievement' Ronald Blythe, author of Akenfield
A Cotswold vicarage.
A former girls' boarding school in Surrey.
A Jacobean house now buried in inner London.
Three Houses, Many Lives tells the stories not only of the houses themselves but of the lives of the many people who lived in them. From Eugenia Stanhope who sold Lord Chesterfield's scandalous letters, to the autocratic vicar who held the same parish from age 28 to 82, from the just-literate wife of a parish clerk who wrote riddles in his registers, to the cow-keeper who farmed 226 acres in Hornsey till he sold them profitably when the railways came through. Gillian Tindall is a master of miniaturist history, making a particular place, person or situation stand for a much larger picture.
A Cotswold vicarage.
A former girls' boarding school in Surrey.
A Jacobean house now buried in inner London.
Three Houses, Many Lives tells the stories not only of the houses themselves but of the lives of the many people who lived in them. From Eugenia Stanhope who sold Lord Chesterfield's scandalous letters, to the autocratic vicar who held the same parish from age 28 to 82, from the just-literate wife of a parish clerk who wrote riddles in his registers, to the cow-keeper who farmed 226 acres in Hornsey till he sold them profitably when the railways came through. Gillian Tindall is a master of miniaturist history, making a particular place, person or situation stand for a much larger picture.
Reviews / Votes
With a detective's forensic patience and the narrative ear of a novelist, Tindall unpicks the histories of these houses -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph * Gillian Tindall is a tapestry maker. She finds patterns in history - woven from close research into people and places - that no one else would have the persistence and insight to pursue. In this unique and often joyful chronicle, she interweaves the stories of three houses which marked crucial stages in her own life * Independent * A gentle, yet rigorous examination of the story of three historic buildings...each chapter is an engaging meditation on English history. Thanks to Ms Tindall the stories of all three are better understood than at any point in their history, and all have their place in a perfectly crafted book * Country Life * Tindall is a forensic researcher [and] has an imaginative historical sensibility and her way of revisiting the past - as if approaching it through the back door - has both subtlety and poignancy. The names of Tindall's inhabitants may sometimes pass in a blur but together they form a roll-call of the predecessors of modern Britain. There are of course thousands of other houses like the three in this touching book...whose stories will never be told -- Michael Prodger * Financial Times * Gillian Tindall is gifted with an archeological imagination. [She] circles around these houses, bringing out their light, colour and preciousness by employing a method that crosses genres. This book is an education in many things -- Frances Spalding * Literary Review * A triumph over time and death, proof that the past is all around us * Times Literary Supplement * Her excavation of the histories of the ordinary people who lived in each place is fascinating and she vividly brings the past to life via domestic minutiae -- Tina Jackson * Metro * Subtle, delicate and slightly dotty. Tindall is attracted to the idea of lives overlooked and deeds mislaid...this intriguing, imaginative book is very much my cup of tea -- Lucy Worsley * Evening Standard * Three houses - a Cotswold vicarage, a one-time girls' boarding school and a Jacobean house. Gillian Tindall explores the lives of those who once lived there, and through her research she is able to reveal four centuries of English history. Tindall has sensitivity to the past like few others; her approach to history is delicate, detailed and revealing. For my money, this is one of the history leads of the year * Bookseller * The big surprise of this book is the fascinating thread of memories which holds the narrative together * Press Association *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
314 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-954703-7 (9780099547037)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Gillian Tindall
Three Houses, Many Lives
E-Book
06/2013
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Gillian Tindall is a master of miniaturist history, well known for the quality of her writing and the scrupulousness of her research; she makes a handful of people, a few locations or a dramatic event stand for the much larger picture, as her seminal book The Fields Beneath, approached the history of Kentish Town, London. She has also written on London's Southbank (The House by the Thames), on southern English counties (Three Houses, Many Lives), and the Left Bank (Footprints in Paris), amongst other locations, as well as biography and prize-winning novels. Her latest book, The Tunnel through Time, traced the history of the Crossrail route, the forthcoming 'Elizabeth' line. She has lived in the same London house for over fifty years.