Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty

Product Information

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and while I approached it thinking it would have the Downton Abbey vibe to it and be light and gossipy, I knew Catherine Bailey would bring her own twist to the story and enlighten and educate the reader along the way. There was interesting commentary about the 1926 General Strike, the decline of the aristocracy in general, and the increased democratization of Britain in the post-Great War period.

Black Diamonds Tour - Wentworth Woodhouse

Now the author has again put pen to paper and created the Black Diamonds Tour, a fascinating insight into the story which takes visitors through the twists and turns of the house’s history with one of our specially-trained guides.Remember, any money made from our tours goes straight into the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust and contributes towards the restoration of this magnificent house and gardens. In 1902, when the historical narrative commences, it was the largest privately owned house in all of England. Structurally, this book is a mess, goes off into tangents, and has an annoying way of setting up scenarios by telling the ending first and then trying to get you to wade through the narrative because you're supposed to be held in suspense.

Black Diamond Book 1) eBook The Girlfriend Arrangement (Black Diamond Book 1) eBook

I suppose writing about the Kennedys will catch readers’ attention, but there is a limit to how much should have been included here. A. I can vouch for its observations of a middle and upper class segment of the country that rarely gets mentioned in world press.It is a social history of the time, as well as a history of a place, and the specific characters who inhabit it, While not evenly divided between storylines focusing on the Dukes and the locals, it does have the fresh voices of former employees adding color to the narrative. She takes great liberties assuming the reader is already familiar with the family and entirely omits the early chapters of their history without so much as a footnote of explanation. Walter Brierley, a miner from a pit 40 miles from Wentworth who was unemployed for four years, longed to be back hewing coal.

Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty

I'm amazed at the obsession with having a male heir, as well as the apparent extraordinary difficulty in producing one.

But this was a very interesting story and peek into the more contemporary story of urban South Africa, I am glad I read it. The student reading room is found on your right hand when going up the moving walkway in the atrium of the library. But what Ms Bailey does in her book is show both sides of fence, warts and all - baddies and goodies - and she doesn't fall into the sycophantic trap or the trap of making the rich guys the baddies and the poor guys the goodies.

Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey | Waterstones

Catherine Bailey’s highly acclaimed book Black Diamonds brought the plight of Wentworth Woodhouse and its incredible story to worldwide attention. She brings history alive with words and has crafted a story that is so easy to read, understand and keep track of. If ever there was a book which proved fact is bigger, better, stranger than fiction then this is it!Internet connectivity requires that you are from an institution that is part of the Eduroam collaboration. The reading room is generally for non-circulatory material - that is, material that may only be viewed in a reading room. The upbringing of Lord Milton and his purposed and continued separation from the entire huge group of his siblings and central family because of his illness? Many begin as gray, heavily included and fractured diamonds that are subjected to high-temperature/low-pressure treatment, which graphitizes the fractures, turning them black.