Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping: Timeless Wisdom and Practical Advice

by Miriam Lukken, Dashka Slater, Caroline Anne Dunwoody

Book Overview

A delightful and practical compendium of homespun advice, cleaning and etiquette tips, traditional recipes, and Southern wit, Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping will bring warmth, gentility, and order into your home. Today many of us yearn for the home-centered values of yesteryear -- homemade desserts, family traditions, and sparkling clean rooms that radiate comfort and good cheer. Now you can bring the wise, unhurried ways and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446530131
• ISBN13: 9780446530132
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Timeless Advice and Tips

Mrs. Dunwoody's is loaded with timeless advice and tips for homekeeping, from a homemaker's daily routine, recipes for various house cleaning solutions, sewing tips, recipes for good 'ole southern food, a guide to entertaining, etiquette, letter writing, health and beauty, advice on marriage and family, planting a garden, and the book is filled with pages to fill in your own advice/tips/recipes/family memories and stories/and your family tree. This is a must for any woman who keeps a house!

This will become an American bookshelf classic

This book is the kind one buys for sisters, friends, family, teachers, weddings, birthdays, and anyone that wants to make a house a home. (I bought extras for my gift closet.) The fill-in pages at the end of each chapter personalize it and make it a treasure book for the family, something you would want to pass down to the younger generations. The words are timeless, like a long lost great-aunt encouraging and rooting for the reader. Yes, the nuts and bolts of keeping house are there, but the real charm of this book is the way the author encourages the reader to find the sacred in the ordinary and every day. I love the charm, wit, and wisdom and the fact that I can pick it up and read from any page and carry something away with me. (I love books like that in my chaotic life!) I think this timeless book will be around for a long while and become a classic, much like The Joy of Cooking.

We can learn a lot from our own history

I loved this book!! I initially picked it up and just skimmed throught it, which is very rewarding and fun anyway because the tidbits of info and the wonderful Victorian pictures are just incredible! BUt one quiet afternoon, i finally sat down with the book and began reading it from page one!! And when I was finished, not only did I have such a healthy respect for the way our forebears lived, it also inspired me to create a much more wholesome and warm home for my own family. and thank GOd, I don't need to use lye to wash my husband's smelly socks in, but believe it or not, many of the old household hints are relevant today. IN fact, with all the health concerns about the chemicals we use to clean with everyday and how harmful they are not only to ourselves but the environment, I actually bought a six pack of Baking Soda at the discount store to use for the myriad of ways Mrs. Dunwoody recommends. A timeless book of timeless treasures and timeless wisdom!! Makes you wish for simplier times!! I recommend it to anyone wishing to make their house more of a HOME!!

A blast from the past...and a blast to read

Ok...I must admit, a book like Mrs Dunwoody is not usually up my alley, but when I took a look inside this one at the bookstore, I was compelled to keep reading. I stood next to shelf for almost an hour, completely lost in the amazing tips this book has to offer.Written in the voice of a Victorian era southern matriarch, Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping is kind of an "everything" book. It's got it all: from household cleaning tips to etiquette to entertaining. Following the pattern of a traditional southern receipt book (an heirloom lifestyle guide), this book is less of a do's and don'ts manual and more of a glimpse into a bygone era where gentility ruled and respect was earned, not granted.Whether you are looking for some time-tested housekeeping tips (like using tea to restore wood) or a fun flip through a century of southern wisdom, Mrs Dunwoody is your perfect guide.

Not Just a Homekeeping Book

This book is great! Fun for brousing through. It has a little of everything and would make a great gift for a bride or new home owner, or anyone who enjoys making home a cozy place. Based on Southern "receipt books" that Southern women kept after the civil war, this book covers everything from homemade, safe cleaning solutions to letter writing and etiquitte. Some of my favorite sections include "Mrs. Dunwoody's Essential Guide to Absolutely Delightful Parties", "Mrs. Dunwoody's List of Requirements for an Exceptional Spouse" and some great Southern recipes including "Captain Clemintine's Mint Julip" and "The Robert E. Lee Cake". Chapter titles are: The Art of Homekeeping, The Cares of House and Home, Miss Sallie Anne's Splendid Directions for Laundry, Notes and Recipes from the Kitchen, The Art of Entertaining, Matters of Formality, Health and Beauty, Marriage and Family, The Garden, and Fill-In Pages-A Treasury of Memories. I think my favorite thing about this book is the space at the end of each chapter for making your own notes. There's even a family tree to fill out, and a place to record births, deaths, marriages, etc., just like the old Bibles used to have. Lot's of cute, funny quotes too. For the price -you can't go wrong with this one!