Life in the French Country House

Upper-class French society through the centuries

A perceptive and witty account of upper-class French society through the centuries, showing how its setting - the chateaux, manoirs and gentilhommeries of the French countryside - evolved in concert with their inhabitants to create a way of life admired and emulated throughout Europe.

Fortunes of aristocracy

We learn how different rooms were lived in and how their uses changed, about plumbing, lighting, heating, water supply, kitchens, stables and servant's quarters, about the evolution in taste and decoration to accommodate the waxing and waning fortunes of the aristocracy.
Girouard quotes from letters and diaries, inventories and books of etiquette.