I didn't pick it up solely for Diana though - This was home to one of the most interesting families in the period that I am extremely interested in. The First Earl Spencer and his wife (eighteenth century) had two infamous daughters. Their eldest daughter, Georgiana born in the late 1750's who later married the 5th Duke of Devonshire She has been the subject of numerous biographies on her life. The second daughter led a quieter but only slightly less fascinating life - that was Henrietta who married Lord Bessborough. Henrietta's own daughter was the shocking Lady Caroline Lamb. So all in all this house has a wonderful coterie of historical 'ghosts' knocking around in its archives. All good material for Spencer to draw on - and he does.

Unlike a previous reviewer of this book I don't have any problems with the text and illustrations - the hanging of the paintings (the reviewer saw them turning up in different rooms) is fully explained in the text and it is easy to see which are the before photos and which are the after ones. This includes an explanation and reference in the text to which photo is the dining room before it was turned into the dining room.

What I found most interesting about this book was that it was more than just a history of the people who lived in the house, it was actually a history of the house. Of the changes which had been made over time, walls being knocked out, cladding put on, rooms covered over - all the things which happen to a stately home over 300 years of existence - and the effects which it has on the building.

Spencer is very personal in his writing, I don't think he lacks for self-confidence anyway and although it didn't detract from the book at times I found myself smiling and wondering did he really think he would ever fail?

On his step-mother, Raine. Well it has never been a secret the feelings that her step-children had for her. Given some of the things which have come out in the past I think he was remarkably restrained in limiting himself to some pithy statements on her handling of the design of the house - which I have to say seeing the photos of the rooms she decorated - I am in full agreement with him.

Still while I enjoyed the book immensely, and would recommend anyone with an interest in things English to read this book, it doesn't rate as one that I would keep on my shelves. There are books more specifically in my particular area of interest - Georgian House Style - a recent good one I read was by Henrietta Spencer Churchill which is also on Amazon.

The text describes the evolution of the house and grounds as they have passed from each generation, with the final chapter explaining the design of Diana's memorial. However, there is very little about Diana in the remainder of the book. Where she is mentioned, it is often but a sentence, as with this description of the family Bible: "...Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough's family Bible, which lists every member of the Spencer family after her, naming their date of birth, date and place of christening, godparents, date and place of marriage, spouse, children and date of death. I recently had to bring it up to date."

The book's pictures are of rooms on the ground and first floors (first and second floors in American), valued paintings, other art objects and the grounds. The Earl redecorated Althorp after inheriting it in 1992. I think his style is lovely. The house looks livable and the grouping of paintings, which he attributes to Edward Bulmer, is as special as the Earl describes.

However, it is with the pictures that I find a fault with the book. Under scrutiny, I noticed that some furnishings are in more that one room. Dated captions may have helped with this: Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait of Georgiana, Countess Spencer with her daughter Lady Georgiana, is seen hanging in the Marlborough Room as a drawing room (page 144), while it is also seen hanging in the South Drawing Room on page 11 (decorated by the Earl) and the South Drawing Room on page 128 (decorated by Raine). We know the Earl made the Marlborough Room a dining room. So what is the time period of the room on page 144?

The treatment of Raine, the Earl's former stepmother, is the book's other fault. The Earl has used this as an opportunity to criticize her, her decorating, and even her servants. He describes Raine among "short-termist stepmothers [who] have made massive inroads into once secure inheritances." The pictures of her decorating of Althorp are the most awful pictures in the book: the chapel used as a storage area ("never patient in those days with things Christian"), a library with little furniture, the South Drawing Room in poor light.

The Earl's criticisms do not seem to fit in this book when the prior 100 pages describe how generations of Spencers have sold art and land to maintain Althorp. The Earl himself rents out Althorp for corporate business entertaining.

(Raine's decorating was featured in an article in the January 1991 Architectural Digest. Yes, she used too much gilding; her style was that of an older woman. But her furnished library really does not look much different from the Earl's and the South Drawing Room is photographed in kinder light.)

However, these two faults, and the lack of a map of the grounds, did not stop me from enjoying the book. I look forward to seeing if the Earl's latest book, The Spencers: A Personal History of An English Family, is up to the writing standard he has established here.

The pictures of Althorp were absolutely beautiful, and he went into great detail explaining the history of the contents of the rooms and the history that took place in them.

Charles Spencer stated that he was afraid, at one point, he would not make his mark on Althorp. He certainly has made a significant mark for the better. It is amazing what he has done in such a short period of time.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read. It is entertaining, funny, informative, creative and fascinating.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm fast coming round to the idea that Williams was a *philosophical* writer rather than a *religious* writer. And not only because he himself described his seven novels as "metaphysical thrillers".

Unlike "Descent into Hell" - which is quite frankly an overwrought gothic monstrosity - "Many Dimensions" is a 'typical' Williams story, with standard English prose (standard for the 1930s, that is), a straightforward plotline and plenty of pace. In fact you could put "Many Dimensions" up against later fiction of a similar tone - like Dennis Wheatley, for example (not very well-known now, but immensely popular in the 50s and 60s) - and be hard put to pick a winner.

So where does the philosophy come in?
Primarily in the form of a series of very basic, but also very important, questions that lie just below the surface of the story - and sometimes not even below the surface.

Questions like: "If you can restore all of the people in group A to health, but in the process throw at least an equal number of people in group B out of work - at a time when work isn't that easy to come by in the first place - which group should take priority?"

This question, and others closely related, run all through the story yet, due to Williams' writing skill, they do nothing to impede the plot unless the reader actively chooses to think them through.

The final answer Williams gives, I *think*, is that there is no *easy* answer. Only he frames his conclusion far more lucid and impactful manner than that last observation might suggest.

In short, this writing has the power to enthrall and satisfy a wide range of readers.
The only reason I don't give it five stars is because the literary style is typical of British writing in the 1930s, which I guess won't necessarily be to everyone's taste.
Having said which, I really do recommend the majority of Williams' novels as a taste worth acquiring.

Oh yes, why did I give this review the title "Does God Play Dice?"? When you read the book I think you'll know exactly why.
Good reading!

Williams combines an ultimately serious theme with high poetry, good plot and characters, and his highly individual treatment of the supernatural and mysticism for a very satisfying read (and re-read).

Admittedly, it must be easier to be fascinated by a family with a millennium-long and distinguished history when that family is your own. Nor has it ever been disputed that the Spencers have been in England longer than the current royal family, the Windsors, by at least seven centuries. So it turns out that the one link, the most compelling link for contemporary readers, to the much-loved Princess of Wales is only the most recent chapter in an important story. At no moment in the last millennium was there ever an event in English history in which a Spencer did not play a major role, including Sir Winston Churchill, whose family name actually was "Spencer Churchill."

In THE SPENCERS, without ever stating this explicitly, Charles Spencer makes it clear that the Windsors, with their Hanoverian/ Saxe-Coburg/ Battenberg family history, chose poor Diana precisely to provide Prince Charles' offspring, including any future kings he might sire, with a true English heritage.

That being said, anyone buying this book in the hopes of getting some inside information about the late Princess of Wales is going to be disappointed. She is relegated to a single paragraph on the final page. This is much to Earl Spencer's credit; it would be distasteful to see him try to exploit his sister's memory for simple profit. And there are plenty of other books, tawdry books, which do just that.

If Charles Spencer's goal was to demonstrate that there is much more to Spencer family history than merely the obsession with his poor sister, he proves that he is entitled to this thesis. By temperment, intellect and education, he seems to have been the perfect choice to have written this book. And if he seems, at times, a bit proud...well, he's entitled. The Spencers have a important background, a background about which Earl Spencer writes lyrically.

THE SPENCERS will be valuable to students of history for its view of an entire millennium as seen through the prism of a single family's experience.

The thing I like most about this book is that Earl Spencer pulls no punches with regard to the less admirable members of his family, but at the same time, he does not indulge himself in the scandalous gossip-mongering style of writing that seems to be favored by tabloid journalists and tell-all writers the world over. Instead, he gives the reader the plain, unvarnished truth, without according any special treatment to any of his family.

All in all, The Spencers is a very good and refreshingly honest look at the history of one aristocratic family, written by one of their own. I highly recommend this book for any who are interested in studying English nobility.