The cover implies a more general book, which this isn't. This is the story of Joanna Martin's family in the Georgian period from a wealth of papers and information that she had, and has access to. As such it's an excellent book, and I'm not sure if there's an uncomplicated title that would have conveyed what the book is actually about.
The book is divided into two sections; Daughters and wives. The first details the lives of four daughters of the family and their experiences, the second how women born into the household and brought into the household found their lives as wives. She looks at Country houses; country house life; servants; household management; health; education; Literature and Science; Gardens; travel and patronage.
It's an interesting look at lives led during this period by a select group of people and should be standard on the shelves of fiction authors looking for details about this period, with an understanding that this family was quite high in social status. Interesting, but not quite what it suggested from the title.
