A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair is a 1944 novel set during World War II, focusing on the authentic experience of life in wartime England through the eyes of Cressida Chance, who runs her country house with paying guests as servants disappear. The book captures the era's atmosphere of "battered but sincere optimism" and the contrast between the home front's daily struggles and the war's devastating news, like the fall of Tobruk. It's praised for its realistic portrayal of a woman finding new purpose and freedom in managing the household and its memorable, well-drawn heroine, Cressida.