The House That Berry Built

The House That Berry Built is a humorous semi-autobiographical novel by Dornford Yates published in 1945 by Ward Lock & Co of London. It is a fictional recreation of the construction of the author's house, Cockade, in the commune of Eaux-Bonnes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. This novel is from Yates' series of 'Berry Books', featuring Berry Pleydell, his relatives and close friends. It is the seventh in the series, all of which are period comedy-... more

The House That Berry Built is a humorous semi-autobiographical novel by Dornford Yates published in 1945 by Ward Lock & Co of London. It is a fictional recreation of the construction of the author's house, Cockade, in the commune of Eaux-Bonnes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. This novel is from Yates' series of 'Berry Books', featuring Berry Pleydell, his relatives and close friends. It is the seventh in the series, all of which are period comedy-thrillers. The House That Berry Built charts the Pleydell family's decision to sell White Ladies, their ancestral home in Hampshire, England, and move to Pau, in the South of France. Unable to afford their aristocratic lifestyle in England, and unhappy at social upheavals following the end of World War I, they take refuge in the South of France where they believe traditional values have not yet disappeared. Nostalgic for a vanished world of social events and elegant idleness, Berry and his friends spend their time driving their Rolls and... less