Judith Flanders is the author of the bestselling The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed (2003); the critically acclaimed Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain (2006); A Circle of Sisters (2001), which was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award; The Invention of Murder (2011); and, most recently, The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London (2012). She is a frequent contributor to the Sunday Telegraph, Guardian, Spectator and The Times Literary Supplement. Currently a senior research fellow at the University of Buckingham, she lives in London.
[A] wonderful social history ... a riveting, whistle-stop tour through history. * Daily Mail * In The Making of Home, historian Judith Flanders furnishes fascinating detail on how houses have been made to feel like home over 500 years. * Wall Street Journal * Thought-provoking... Deeply absorbing -- Charlotte Moore * Spectator * This is a hugely informative book, and worth reading for the feminist chapter on women's changing roles alone. An absorbing read. * Daily Express * Judith Flanders has many interesting, and sometimes startling, things to say about what domesticity means to us, how that meaning changed - and how it has endured... She is an efficient debunker of myths about poverty, family and the past. -- Lucy Lethbridge * Financial Times * Magnificent... Wonderfully rich and witty -- Bee Wilson * TLS * The Making of Home is filled with bold arguments and memorable details... A compelling account of what was gained and lost in the quest for cosiness -- Ben Highmore * Observer * Even though I often wanted to argue with its author, I loved this book. -- Victoria Glendinning * Literary Review * A delicious yet nerdy treat... This book deserves a place on your shelves, bedside table, or ottoman * The Times * In this clever and entertaining book Flanders gives the everyday, from bed-making to drainpipes, all the vivid interest of something newly made strange. -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Sunday Times * From the humble shack to the modern high-rise, Judith Flanders brilliantly illuminates the meaning of home throughout history. The Making of Home is a fascinating and ambitious exploration into the soul of family life. We are more than what we eat, we are also how we live. * Amanda Foreman * Fascinating... A treasure chest, bursting with facts and thoughts about what homes mean and how they have been lived in: a perfect book to curl up with in the comfort of your own. -- Frances Wilson * Mail on Sunday *