There is an insatiable interest in well-written books with a wealth of new source material and a vigorous standpoint on the place of women in history, in this case their roles as wives, chatelaines and keepers-up of fashion in decoration and entertainment in the great Power Houses of Britain. Large town houses and country estates were created in the large part to overawe and to reinforce social and political prestige; with that went the presentational requirements needed to impress: fashion in clothes, carriages and entertainment, and in terms of an appropriate backdrop, lavish interiors and exotoc gardens. Rosemary Baird has selected 10 women whose married state as consorts to powerful men required them to take on a wide variety of roles. This is a fascinating account of their lives, taken very often from diaries, letters and new research in family archives.