If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home

by Lucy Worsley

Overview

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two “dirty centuries”? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?

In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen, covering the history of each room and exploring 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 masturbating, getting dressed to getting married-providing a compelling account of how the four rooms of the home have evolved from medieval times to today, charting revolutionary changes in society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620402351
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/08/2013
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	53,194
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lucy Worsley is Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace State Apartments, the Banqueting House in Whitehall, and Kew Palace in Kew Gardens. The author of The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace and Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion, and Great Houses, she lives in London.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Who could not be enthralled by the history of toilet paper? Anyone who lives in a home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom will delight in reading this history of the development of home life." —-Kirkus Starred Review

Editorial Reviews

"Who could not be enthralled by the history of toilet paper? Anyone who lives in a home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom will delight in reading this history of the development of home life." —Kirkus Starred Review

From the Publisher

Was tea once considered a dangerous drink? How often did people bathe hundreds of years ago? With the lack of household privacy during many eras, where did people go to be alone? Worsley (chief curator, Historic Royal Palaces; The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace) explores these and other questions as she looks at four major rooms of the home—bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Drawing only from published British history sources, she examines how the uses of these rooms and ways of thinking about them evolved from the medieval era to the modern day in response to technological advances, changing social attitudes, and the constant desire for increased comfort. Worsley's enthusiasm for her subject is apparent, but her organization is somewhat muddled and many of the subjects discussed receive only a cursory glance; this volume, written to accompany a BBC series she hosted for a popular audience, will best please casual readers. VERDICT Full of factoids, but with some small errors, this might serve as a good introduction to those new to the history of houses or the study of material culture, but it lacks citations and will not appeal to more serious readers.—Kathleen McCallister, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

Library Journal

This masterful social history illustrates the lessons you could never have learned in school, and with a great deal more entertainment. With inspired precision, historian Worsley (The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace, 2010) entertainingly traces the expansion of the rooms of the house from medieval times to the present. As chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the author has opportunities not only to research upper-class habits through the centuries, but also to be able to physically experience the arduous lives of the lower-class men and women who served them. One of the great strengths of her book is the exposure of all levels of society throughout the history of England, with delightful notations of daily life most readers would not ponder: the food they ate, the way they cooked it, the privacy they lacked, the diseases they endured, etc. Just the fact that bathing was out of favor from 1500 to 1750 will make many readers appreciate living in modern times. Many of today's common necessities, such as the toilet, the dishwasher and the kitchen extractor fan, changed daily life in unimaginable ways. Even so, in 1960 only 60 percent of London homes had a refrigerator. The availability of an army of servants to manage a home faded as the opportunities for education and betterment lured the staff away from the scullery and the pantry. This lighthearted approach to the most intimate moments of our lives informs, amuses and titillates. Who could not be enthralled by the history of toilet paper? Anyone who lives in a home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom will delight in reading this history of the development of home life.

Kirkus Reviews