Sara Campbell


Rowan Public Library

February 10, 2012


The dresses, the drama, the affairs. No, I’m not talking about Hollywood, but rather PBS’ popular series Downton Abbey. Set at the end of the Edwardian Age, it was a time when the British class system was very rigid. It also marked a time of rapid change. War was fast approaching and industrialization was changing the life they’d known. Attention and concern was shifting towards the poor and the status of women. It would be the last time corsets would be worn as a standard of everyday life, and women’s suffrage was gaining momentum. Many authors and book titles that are still well-known, were in their prime – Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde, Frances Hodges Burnett’s The Secret Garden, J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, and Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, just to name a few. Albert Einstein was working on his mathematical theories, and the 1908 Summer Olympics had just concluded in London. If you would like to read more about this time period, try some of these books available from Rowan Public Library.

The Remains of the Day is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro which was also made into a film in 1993 starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Ishiguro’s novel, told in diary form, relates the life of a butler, Stevens, and his time spent in service to Lord Darlington. Stevens obviously holds his dignity and honor above all, as becomes evident over his missed life of love with Miss Kenton and his unwavering loyalty to Lord Darlington. As with Downton Abbey, class is highly evident, along with Stevens resolve to hold oneself to impossibly high standards. Banter and Stevens lack of humor becomes a joke in itself. British to the core, The Remains of the Day and a good scone will not leave you wanting.

Daisy Goodwin’s The American Heiress tells the story from the young American wannabe heiress point of view. In 1893, Cora Cash’s mother is set on finding a title for her daughter. Cora knows all the ins and outs of American society but quickly finds that her spoiled attitudes are not appreciated in European society. Becoming a Duchess seemed like a grand plan, but Cora quickly discovers that it’s not all fun and games. Can she fit in with her very proper mother-in-law who dotes on her son, a house full of servants who want nothing to do with her, and life in such a strange place?

In 1911, England was a blissful place if you were one of the lucky elite. George V had just been crowned and a common pastime was to throw lavish parties. One such party, The Shakespeare Ball, treated 600 members of the British upper class to a concert hall which had been transformed into an Elizabethan-Italian garden. A blue sky covered the roof, lower seat boxes became yew hedges (complete with birds), cypress trees lined the edges of the hall and the upper levels were designed to looked like marble terraces. The entertainers were mostly real-life descendents of Shakespeare himself. Most did not realize that in a few short years, they would be in the midst of a world war, because in 1911, England was enjoying The Perfect Summer, by Juliet Nicholson.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by the Countess of Carnarvon takes you behind the scenes of Highclare Castle, the setting for Downton Abbey. Almina was the daughter of banking tycoon Alfred de Rothschild and married the Earl of Carnarvon at age 19, bringing with her a substantial dowry. She was able to pay off the Earl’s £150,000 debt and still manage to have enough left of over for them to live in style, hosting parties for 500 with a staff of eighty. All this changed when World War I descended upon England and the house was turned into a hospital and convalescent home.

For all these Downton Abbey read-alikes and many more, look no further than Rowan Public Library. You can read a book and pretend you are a countess or an earl – if you can find someone to bring you tea.