"In spite of the number of books on the topic, Jessica Gerard has managed to make an important contribution ..." The American Historical Review "Gerard's account breaks new ground in several ways. It studies the country house as a functioning machine, gives much more attention to upper-class women, explores the relationships between masters and servants and it strikes a nice balance between the forces of continuity and change as they affected the 19th-century country house. Fascinating and well documented study." The Spectator "With admirable objectivity, the author challenges the myths and misconceptions of country-house life and, in doing so, helps to explain the enduring attraction of her subject ..... Absorbing and scholarly." Country Life "We know a great deal about the theory of country houses, both as machines for living and as power bases for the landed classes, but not much about the actual practice of living in and running them. Jessica Gerard, in this finely researched book, breathes life into the theory, and fills the country house with real people. It is on the servants that Jessica Gerard has her most absorbing material, and it is in analysing their lives, careers and relations with their employers that she makes her most striking contribution to scholarship. ... Jessica Gerard has furnished a fully documented and verified version not simply of Upstairs, Downstairs, but of all the different worlds of servants' halls. It is a notable achievement." The Times Literary Supplement