| Byatt, A.S. |
Children’s Book |
A tale spanning the end of the Victorian era through World War I finds famous children's book author Olive Wellwood taking in a runaway and exposing the boy to dark truths about her family's summer bacchanals at their rambling country house. |
| Carnarvon, Fiona |
Lady Almina and the real Downton Abbey: the lost legacy of Highclere Castle |
This biography tells the story behind Highclere Castle, the real-life inspiration for the hit PBS show Downton Abbey, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon and the basis of the fictional character Lady Cora Crawley. |
| Carter, Miranda |
George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I |
In the years before World War I, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Tsar Nicholas II. Carter uses the cousins' correspondence and a host of historical sources to tell their tragicomic stories. |
| Fellows, Julian |
Snobs |
Preparing to marry heir Charles Broughton, attractive accountant’s daughter Edith Lavery makes humorous and astute observations about contemporary England’s class system. |
| |
The World of Downton Abbey |
A lavish look at the real world – both the secret history and the behind-the-scenes drama – of the Emmy Award-winning Masterpiece TV series Downton Abbey. |
| Follett, Ken |
Fall of Giants |
Follows the fates of five interrelated families –American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. |
| Forester, E.M. |
Howards End |
A dying woman's bequest, a girl's attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage of an idealist and a materialist — all intersect at an estate called Howards End. The fate of this country home symbolizes the future of England in an exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends during the post-Victorian era. |
| Galsworthy, John |
The Forsyte Saga |
The saga begins with Soames Forsyte, a successful solicitor who buys land at Robin Hill on which to build a house for his wife Irene and future family. Eventually, the Forsyte family begins to disintegrate when Timothy Forsyte, the last of the old generation, dies at the age of 100. |
| Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn |
Cranford |
A comic portrait of early Victorian life in a country town which describes with poignant wit the uneventful lives of its lady-like inhabitants, offering an ironic commentary on the separate spheres and diverse experiences of men and women. |
| Goodwin, Daisy |
The American Heiress |
Like Cora, the Countess of Grantham, The American Heiress’ heroine is a wealthy American that marries a Duke in need of money. Of course, she soon discovers being a Duchess might not be all she wanted or needed. |
| Hochschild, Adam |
To End All Wars: a story of loyalty and rebellion, 1914-1918 |
Author Adam Hochschild gives an in-depth look at the political mood in Britain as the war broke out—particularly the pacifist movement. Portraits of aristocrats at war should also appeal to the “Downton” devotée. |
| Hylton, Sara |
Flirting with Destiny |
Summer, 1914. As the storm clouds of war gather over Europe, four privileged young women prepare to leave school and embark on adult life. But for Louise, Imogen, Cora and Miranda, the outbreak of war will change everything |
| Ibbotson, Eva |
A Countess Below Stairs |
The story of Anna, a young Russian countess, who has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family. |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo |
The Remains of the Day |
At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens, a loyal butler, embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” A compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world postwar England. |
| Kehoe, Elisabeth |
The Titled Americans : three American sisters and the British aristocratic world into which they married |
Elisabeth Kehoe brings to life a sweeping, three-generational saga of the remarkable Jerome sisters – among the most glamorous women of their time – whose well-chosen marriages to British aristocracy represented the first of such transatlantic unions. |
| MacColl, Gail |
To Marry an English Lord |
From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles--just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham. This volume is filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details. |
| Mitford, Nancy |
Love in a Cold Climate |
The classic comedy of upper crust English manners and mores on the subject of love between the Wars. |
| Morton, Kate |
The House at Riverton |
Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, this is the post-war story of an English aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for decades. |
| Powell, Margaret |
Below Stairs : the classic kitchen maid's memoir that inspired "Upstairs, downstairs" and "Downton Abbey" |
Margaret Powell’s classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. |
| Solomon, Natasha |
The House at Tyneford |
It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau realizes her only means of escape is to advertise her services as a domestic servant in England. Fate brings her ad to the attention of Christopher Rivers, handsome scion of the aristocratic Rivers family and master of Tyneford, a grand estate where she soon travels for employment. |
| Todd, Charles |
A Bitter Truth |
A battlefield nurse during World War I, Bess Crawford, returning to London for a well-earned Christmas leave, finds her holiday fraught with mystery and murder when she agrees to help a bruised and battered woman return to her small village in Sussex. |
