Waiting
for Downton Abbey, by Karla Stover
We are
eight weeks away from the next season of Downton
Abbey and many viewers are hoping the eldest daughter, widow and
born-to-the-manor, Lady Mary will find romance with her widower brother-in-law,
Tom, the Irish Republican and the family’s former chauffeur. Tom has settled in
above-the-stairs fairly well, and is accepted by most people, but in real life that
was not always the case. Take Margaret Powell’s autobiography, Servants’ Hall, for example. Ms Powell worked for the Wardham family at their Redlands estate.
In the book, she recounts her life as the family cook, along with the marriage
of parlor maid, Rose to the son-of-the-house, Gerald. The fact that Rose
insisted on maintaining her friendships with the staff after her marriage
didn’t bode well.
I’m a
sucker for well-written memoirs. When I want to binge on a particular type of
book, such as life-below-the-stairs, I go to Alibris and plug in the title of a
book, such as Servants’ Hall. When
the book comes up, there is a spot on the right side labeled,” More Books Like
This.” Thus, I read Rosina Harrison’s book, Rose:
My Life in Service, which led me to her biography of the Astor’s butler,
Edwin Lee and that led me to Eric Horne’s What
the Butler Winked At. Though pretty tame by contemporary, tell-all
standards, Mr. Horne’s book was a sensation when it came out, as those above
the stairs panicked for fear of what they might read about themselves.
When Call the Midwife, a series based on
Jennifer Worth’s books, started showing on PBS, I found her other books on
Alibris and read them all. That’s not to say, “More Books” doesn’t sometimes go
off on a bit of a tangent. It also recommended Belle de Jour: Life of an Unlikely Call Girl. Maybe the anonymous
who wrote it needed a midwife.
And now I
seem to be off on my own tangent. Here I sit, reading Mollie Moran’s, Minding the Manor while I wait for Downton Abbey to start. I sit knowing
full well Lady Grantham will soon be simpering over Lady Mary; Lady Mary will
be swanning around, and poor Lady Edith will still be looking for a man.
Author of A Line to Murder
Great post, Karla. I've only watched a few of Downton Abbey It looks like a great series. Now, I'm going to look up the books you posted about.. They sound fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on creating a book wish list. I read a lot for research and was lucky enough this summer to talk to a lady who works at Highclere Castle - the Downton Abbey of the series, which I love. In the program Downton is supposed to be in Yorkshire. I hadn't seen it at all until this summer when I watched the first three series right through. The lives of the upstairs/downstairs people were certainly different. Victoria C
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I'm another Downton devotee. Not sure when the next series airs here in Australia, but looking forward to it even though the antics of some of the upstairs lot sometimes annoy hell out of me.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Karla.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Margaret
Not a devotee but really enjoyed your post. Good luck with your books
ReplyDelete