Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty

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Our goal is to make shopping easier and safer - smooth. That is why we take drastic measures to protect you as a buyer against fraud and unreliable online retailers. Whenever you see the Klarna logo in an online store, you can be sure that the store is trustworthy and meets our strict requirements. I can highly recommend this book. It’s now one for my favourites shelf and I will source a hard copy for my real life book shelf to sit alongside Fey's war. Whilst seething at the hatred and animosity that religion caused to relationships I was reminded of the medieval siege of where the victorious commander uttered “Kill them all. The Lord knows those that are his own". Does God give a monkey's about religion when he thinks of a life well lived ??? Centuries of history and local pride sacrificed on the altar of political expediency in the post war era while extravagant expenditure hastened the family's demise.

Black Diamond Engagement Rings UK | Diamonds Factory Black Diamond Engagement Rings UK | Diamonds Factory

In the 1970s for days on end piles of family papers were burned in bonfires at Wentworth house in Yorkshire taking with it most of the late 19th and early 20th century history of the earls of Wentworth. This is the reconstructed story of the aristocratic Wentworth family from their glory days, flush with coal wealth at the end of the 19th century to their decline and fall in the 20th century. This book was a little different for me than The Secret Rooms. With The Secret Rooms we jumped right into the story and the family history/scandal etc. Kathleen Kennedy was featured in the book as well. There was a lengthy section on her romance with, and marriage to, a non-family member. After her husband’s death, she fell in love with Peter Fitzwilliam and died with him in a plane crash. I’d head for years about her tragic death (part of the famous Kennedy tragedies) but I had no idea that her story was part of Wentworth’s saga.A compelling new history . . . fascinating insights into the dynasty that once ruled this Yorkshire roost' Daily Mail To make matters worse Bailey seems to have had more than a little trouble determining the exact scope of her work. The description led me to believe this was a family history, but within the text, the personal lives and accomplishments of the Fitzwilliam's frequently fell to the way side as Bailey examined the coal mining industry, class conflict and the political upheaval that characterized England in the early and mid 1900s. Though I found the information intensely interesting, I often found myself wondering how the work of a pit pony and his adolescent driver or the breakdown of a coal miner's household budget impacted the inhabitants of Wentworth. But what I love about Bailey is that she always finds interesting aspects of British history. The scandal and the drama of real life plays out effortlessly in her writing. I find myself drawn in and captivated by what she is conveying.

Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey | Waterstones

A social history of coal mining, told through the eyes of one family, the owners of Wentworth, reputedly the biggest country seat in Britain. I absolutely loved this. It had all my favourite ingredients for a good history: social context; gossip and scandal; dynastic shenanigans; and what's more, it managed a very rare thing, it swayed me at one point from my own natural socialistic inclinations onto the side of the aristocracy! At first I was really excited about this book, but just over half way I got quite fed up with it and found finishing it a struggle. Considering how I started with it I am left feeling quite disappointed. His first play, We Shall Sing for the Fatherland, won the first Amstel Playwright of the Year Award in 1978, a feat he repeated the following year. He worked as a bank clerk, a teacher and in marketing before the publication of We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays in 1980 enabled him to be admitted to the Ohio University for a three-year Master's degree in theatre. He completed a Masters Degree in Theatre at Ohio University, after which he obtained a Master of Arts Degree in Mass Communication. By 1984 his plays were performed in the USSR, the USA, and Scotland as well as in various parts of southern Africa. Although he spent his early childhood in Soweto (where he knew political figures such as Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela) he had to finish his education in Lesotho where his father went into exile since 1963. This change of setting also meant a change of language for Mda: from isiXhosa to Sesotho. Consequently Mda preferred to write his first plays in English.

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I loved reading about the rich and famous of the British aristocracy, anything with the worlds elite is always interesting since it’s out of the realm of everyday life. I'm amazed at the obsession with having a male heir, as well as the apparent extraordinary difficulty in producing one. But when all possible male descendants are extinct, the Earldom disappears.

Black Diamonds Tour - Wentworth Woodhouse

An extraordinary tale of family feuds, forbidden love, civil unrest and the downfall of a mining dynasty If ever there was a book which proved fact is bigger, better, stranger than fiction then this is it! I can't remember why I got this book from the library - I think another goodreader mentioned it in a review and it sounded interesting. And it was. I have a bit of a fascination with mining, coal in particular - try reading "Rose" by Martin Cruz Smith - excellent book - and the peculiarities of the English aristocracy.Wentworth in Yorkshire was surrounded by 70 collieries employing tens of thousands of men. It is the finest and largest Georgian house in Britain and belonged to the Fitzwilliam family.