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If Walls Could Talk: An intimate history of the home [Paperback]

Lucy Worsley (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two 'dirty centuries'? Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit?

All these questions will be answered in this juicy, smelly and truly intimate history of home life.

Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, covering the architectural history of each room, but concentrating on what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove.

From sauce-stirring to breast-feeding, teeth-cleaning to masturbation, getting dressed to getting married, this book will make you see your home with new eyes.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber (5 Jan 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0571259545
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571259540
  • Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 21,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Lucy Worsley Page
Lucy Worsley
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Review

'Fascinating history ... it is very useful to have these histories of different purposes brought together under one banner ... highly accessible.' -- The Herald >> 'Almost every page contains [a] diverting nugget. Worsley is like a larky tour guide, whirling us round the seedier corridors of the royal palaces ... it's all terrific fun.' -- Bee Wilson, Sunday Times >> 'Anecdotes, jokes and fascinating facts come thick and fast ... Worsley's eye for quirky detail is so compelling that you quickly find yourself gripped by the most unlikely subjects ... a very enjoyable beginner's guide to British domestic life.' -- Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday >> 'This book has an excellent title.If Walls Could Talk hints at saucy intimacies and salacious secrets - and the reader (blushing, if male), isn't disappointed ... I was glued.' -- Clive Aslet, Country Life >> 'She is almost school-teacherly, but has a naughty twinkle in her eye and a talent for self-deprecating personal intervention that allows her book to wear its learning lightly ... engaging.' --Stella Tillyard, Daily Telegraph

'It all works. From the plethora of detail emerges Worsley's overarching point, which is that "every single object in your home has its own important story to tell".' -- Observer Paperback of the Week >> 'Fascinating intimate history.' --Daily Telegraph

Book Description

A fascinating look at how people really lived, loved and died over the centuries
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Home Truths. 31 Mar 2011
By jenniferangeline
Format:Hardcover
If Walls Could Talk is a hugely enjoyable book, as equally informed as funny. The author pulls back the curtains and leaves the bedroom door open with relish.

Lucy Worsley's history of the home reveals how much domesticity has changed - or in some cases stayed the same - over the past 500 years. The bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room are used as stages for all manner of historical personages (Henry VIII, Pepys, Queen Victoria) to make their entrances and exits.

Sex, hygiene, science and tradition are also all put under the microscope. One can either read this book in great, delicious chunks or, such are its small chapters, If Walls Could Talk is, fittingly perhaps, an ideal loo book.

Am greatly looking forward to the forthcoming TV series - and I only hope the programmes contain half as much information and humour as this treasure trove of a book.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars If walls could talk - 12 April 2011
By kezza883
Format:Hardcover
"If Walls Could Talk" is the third book by Lucy Worsley that I have read and I was certainly not disappointed. Hugely enjoyable, it is a towering achievement by a great historian. Lucy has produced a work of staggering detail but it is so beautifully written that this reader had no difficulty coping. As in her previous books, one is dazzled by the depth of her research and knowledge of her subject, but drawn into the stories by her intimate style of writing. It is as if one is catching up on the latest gossip with an old friend. What separates Lucy from many other historians for me is the way she manages to balance gravitas with humour. This book had me laughing aloud - a first for a history book. The one problem with her books is that one does not want them to end and is left waiting (impatiently) for the next fix! The television series will go some way to helping. Dr Worsley is rapidly becoming THE historian of her generation. I cannot recommend this book and everything else she has written highly enough.
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Original and Enjoyable Work of Popular History. 31 Mar 2011
By T.M.
Format:Hardcover
I didn't want this book to end (indeed my one small criticism would be that we didn't get shown around the garden). The author's warm wit and encyclopaedic knowledge of her subject make this an original and enjoyable work of popular history.
The history of the home is married to that of the story of the nation, as the author uses the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room as prisms by which we can also view broader topics (such as sex, female emancipation, scientific progresss and the lives of royalty and servants alike).
The publishers should also be congratulated for furnishing the book with such gorgeous colour plates.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and informative
A great buy for anyone who enjoyed the TV series on BBC 4. Expands on some of the themes of the series, and is full of interesting information about the bits of history that are... Read more
Published 14 days ago by n b
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderfully interesting!
What a treasure this book is, filled with interesting and fun historical facts, eye openers and explanations. Read more
Published 2 months ago by bookkate
5.0 out of 5 stars Learning presented lightly
Lucy Worsley is a good example of the excellent presenters seen nowadays on TV. This book is as delightful as her programmes on the screen; bursting with information from what... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. B. Swingler
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read !
I am still reading this great book but you can almost hear Lucy talking to you.Great price and full of information through these history pages. Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. K. Bishop
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Book.
A great read. Lots of interesting facts by a cracking lady. She could write a shopping list and read it out loud and I would hang on her every word.
Published 2 months ago by MR J Cobb
5.0 out of 5 stars a good read
well writen funny and hard to put down
could picture what the Dr Worsly was talking about
I recomend it
Published 3 months ago by stephan
4.0 out of 5 stars If walls could talk
Lovely book a very interesting, amusing and easy read, which is a bit like
her BBC TV programme. Treat yourself to this read.
Published 3 months ago by MRS.C M G PLATTEN-LIERE
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting!
An interesting book that conversation most aspects of everyday life through the history of the home. Learnt a lot about domestic life upstairs and downstairs.
Published 3 months ago by mikki47
5.0 out of 5 stars A joy to read!
Chatty, humorous, vivid, hugely entertaining and informative, I found I was always looking forward to the next chapter. An innovative way of looking at history.
Published 3 months ago by Corrynne
5.0 out of 5 stars If Walls Could Talk
Great book and love Lucy Worsley's TV programs. Fascinating facts about our ancestors lives, thankfully we don't live like that today.
Published 4 months ago by william castle
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