A Bittersweet Heritage by Victoria Perry is an account of some of the wealth which poured into the British landed estates from the West Indies, directly as a result of Britain’s Caribbean slave-based economy - principally sugar cultivation, but also from the slave trade itself.

Few people with a serious interest in heritage and historic architecture – and the artistic and cultural significance of the country house – will not be aware of this difficult history today, but Dr Perry’s carefully researched and highly readable narrative, provides a thorough and insightful investigation of a number of inter-related themes for anyone wishing to understand these relationships better.

…