I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is both light and engaging, whilst having some genuinely interesting facts about eight rectories and ten famous families. The theme holding it together is the effect of living in a rectory upon writers; the surfeit of families to buildings is caused by two of them living, at different eras, in the same property.

Most of the chapters are more concerned with the people than the architectural construct and it is in providing vignettes of the lives of the author and their families that Deborah Alun-Jones excels. One of the combinations explored is that of John Betjeman at The Old Rectory, Farnborough. I have, recently, read a biography of Betjeman and whilst, in just twenty-four, lavishly illustrated, pages, one could not expect the detail of a five hundred page book, this rending brought Betjeman to life.

The greatest compliment that I can pay to a book, such as this, is that it has made me keen to explore the lives of its subjects in greater detail. ( )