Book Review: At Home – A Short History of Private Life

‘It is always quietly thrilling to find yourself looking at a world you know well but have never seen from such an angle before…’

Bill Bryson has gone from a name I would see on my dad’s bookshelf to one of my favourite authors in recent years. Having started with Notes from a Small Island (the book I would always wonder about on my dad’s bookshelf) and then gone on to Mother Tongue – The Story of the English Language, Shakespeare – The World as Stage and, most recently The Body – A Guide for Occupants, I can count myself firmly among the converted to Bryson’s conversational but informative style. At Home – A Short History of Private Life, published in 2010, is a book I came to by accident. Having recently been given a free six month subscription to Audible, I typed ‘Bill Bryson’ into the search bar and selected the first book I came across. And I’m glad that I did…

Narrated by Bryson himself, At Home – A Short History of Private Life sees the American-British author taking a disparate journey through the private lives of the British people across all social classes and spanning hundreds of years. Whilst every chapter is ostensibly about a different room in his recently purchased house in Norfolk, the result is freewheelin’, mind-bending exploration of everything that has shaped the concept of a ‘private life’.

As ever, Bryson veers wildly between a diverse range of topics, taking in the construction of Crystal Palace, the diary of Samuel Pepys and the history of architecture. The audio-book is a medium that I am yet to truly fall in love with, but Bryson’s dulcet tones combined with the fascinating content provided me with something to get lost in on daily walks or to listen to whilst gently sobbing in the shower, and I was genuinely saddened when it was over.

Bryson is one of the world’s most beloved authors, and it is easy to see why with books as universal and accessible as At Home. This is a book with that rarest of gifts – it genuinely makes learning fun. If only I could capture that energy and instil it into my own professional life as a teacher…