LEGACY

'I was riveted: this is a fascinating social history.' - Nigella Lawson

'Five stars... history on a scale at once intimate and grand.' - Telegraph

‘Best book of 2019: Business’ - Financial Times

‘Written with love and imagination...a masterclass in historical empathy.’ - TLS

‘A magnificent book... endlessly fascinating.’ - Jewish Chronicle

A panoramic new history of modern Britain, as told through the story of one extraordinary family, and one groundbreaking company.

In the early 1800s Lehmann Gluckstein and his family escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe and made their way to Whitechapel in the East End of London. There, starting with nothing, they worked tirelessly to pull themselves out of the slums, creating a small tobacco factory that quickly grew to become the largest catering company in the world: J. Lyons.

For over a century, Lyons was everywhere. Its restaurants and corner houses were on every high street, its coffee and tea in every cup, its products in every home. By bringing the world to the British people, the company transformed the way we eat, drink and are entertained – democratising luxury and globalising our tastes. But it was a victory that was hard-won – a story of the virtue of hard work, perseverance and an indomitable spirit in the face of repeated obstacles: poverty, hatred and dismissal. It is a tale that is rarely told, of an immigrant family’s journey from rags to riches: the story of the British Dream.

Legacy charts the rise and fall of one of the most influential dynasties in British history through the lives of five astonishing generations, bound together by an unbreakable code. This is a sweeping yet intimate work of history, filled with stories of sacrifice and selflessness, betrayal and personal tragedy, Empire and its cost, and success on an unimaginable scale. It is also an illuminating new exploration of Britain and its place in the world, from the bestselling author of Hanns and Rudolf and The House by the Lake.

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REVIEWS

‘I was riveted: this is a fascinating social history.’ - Nigella Lawson

‘A magnificent book… endlessly fascinating' - Jewish Chronicle

‘Written with love and imagination… a masterclass in historical empathy.’ - Times Literary Supplement

‘Five Stars… History on a scale at once intimate and grand… extremely readable.’ - The Telegraph

‘Enthralling… A dynastic saga that carries striking echoes of the Lehman Trilogy. Fascinating.’ - The Observer

‘A monumental history of the rise and fall of the Lyons empire… It’s a terrific story.’ - The Times

‘Fascinating…Harding, who is related to the Glucksteins on his mother’s side, is to be congratulated on this panoramic history of an institution that was as British as Victoria sponge.’ - Evening Standard

’Ably combines his story with British political and social history... [an] affectionate and colourful family history.’ - Financial Times

‘Harding’s affectionate family story is deftly sandwiched in the rise and fall of empire, two world wars, and two centuries of social and political change.’ - The Economist

‘Engrossing ... this is an extraordinary story, well told.’ - Sunday Times

‘This extraordinarily rich and meticulously researched history of modern Britain is a tour de force. It’s a paean to the immigrant contribution to our nation.’ - The Bookseller

‘[A] satisfying slab of dynastic history... [a] brisk, accessible account of how one Anglo-Jewish dynasty provided twentieth-century Britain with the materials it required to imagine itself fondly as a land of cosy comfort.’ - The Guardian

‘Legacy is the biography of the extraordinary family who put the respectable teashop on the corner, the hamburger on the high street, plus the cuppa and Ready Brek on your breakfast table. […] Thomas Harding is a researcher of the first rank. Nobody quite stirs the soup of historical detail like Harding.”  - Daily Express

‘I absolutely love this book.’ - Tracy Oberman

A  meticulously researched account.’ - Kipper Williams.

’An astonishing story, beautifully and lovingly told.’ - Allan Little

‘Endlessly fascinating and hard to put down. I read it all in one sitting. This is a tour de force.’ - Rabbi Julia Neuberger

‘An impressively researched account.’ - Anne J Kershen, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of London

‘A must-read’ - Rabbi Stuart Altshuler

SUMMARY

Imprint: William Heinemann

• Published: 29/08/2019

• ISBN: 9781785150883

• Length: 560  Pages

• RRP: £25.00

• Pub Date 29 August 2019

Purchase a copy here