Below Stairs
The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey'
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Narrated by:
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Mary Wells
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By:
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Margaret Powell
About this listen
Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, 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. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s. As a kitchen maid - the lowest of the low - she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5:30 am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Margaret Powell's true story of a life spent in service is a fascinating "downstairs" portrait of the glittering, long-gone worlds behind the closed doors of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.
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The house was built in the Old Queen's time: built for an Elizabethan pirate who was knighted for the plunder he brought home. It survived many eras, many reigns: it saw the passing of Cromwell and the Civil War. It became rich with an Indian Nabob and poor with a 20th century innkeeper. It saw wars, and lovers, and death. Children were born there, both heirs and bastards. It had ghosts and legends and a history that grew stranger with every generation.
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Bless This House - my take
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By: Norah Lofts
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The Lark
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Orphaned cousins Jane and Lucilla, both 19, receive the exciting news that their guardian is at last allowing them to leave boarding school. But their rosy future is thwarted when they find he has made some bad investments and fled, leaving them with a cottage in the English countryside and a modest bank account.
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It has that wonderful charm of the tales of old...
- By Lidia Chymkowska on 10-03-18
By: E. Nesbit
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A Handful of Dust
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
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Evelyn Waugh's 1934 novel is a bitingly funny vision of aristocratic decadence in England between the wars. It tells the story of Tony Last, who, to the irritation of his wife, is inordinately obsessed with his Victorian Gothic country house and life. When Lady Brenda Last embarks on an affair with the worthless John Beaver out of boredom with her husband, she sets in motion a sequence of tragicomic disasters that reveal Waugh at his most scathing.
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Slow Start then Subtle
- By Michael on 05-16-15
By: Evelyn Waugh
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Servants
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- By: Lucy Lethbridge
- Narrated by: Helen Stern
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Overall
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From the immense staff running a lavish Edwardian estate and the lonely maid-of-all-work cooking in a cramped middle-class house to the poor child doing chores in a slightly less poor household, servants were essential to the British way of life. They were hired not only for their skills but also to demonstrate the social standing of their employers - even as they were required to tread softly and blend into the background. More than simply the laboring class serving the upper crust - as popular culture would have us believe - they were a diverse group that shaped and witnessed major changes in the modern home, family, and social order.
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Interesting but gaps in info, narration difficult
- By redsrule1 on 01-11-15
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Sarah Morris Remembers
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With the help of her old diaries, Sarah Morris recounts her life story. The daughter of an English vicar, she begins by telling of her happy childhood with her brothers and sister in their country village. As a teenager, Sarah’s brother brings home a friend - Charles, a charming Austrian to whom she quickly becomes close. Over the years they fall in love, but when war breaks out Charles must return to Austria. While she awaits his return, Sarah quietly continues working hard and caring for her family. But she can’t stop wondering if she will ever see her sweetheart again…
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Lovely story
- By Hearth on 08-08-15
By: D. E. Stevenson
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Miss Buncle's Book
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Patricia Gallimore
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The scene of this entertaining story is laid in a charming English village. The plot centres round Miss Barbara Buncle, a maiden lady who was obliged to write a book because – as she naively explained – her dividends were so poor. Unfortunately, Miss Buncle had no imagination, so she wrote about her friends – quite kindly and truthfully, of course, for she was a benevolent and veracious soul.
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A complete pleasure
- By Sara on 01-16-14
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I Capture the Castle
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In this coming of age story, Dodie Smith introduces the visionary and eccentric character of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. The youngest daughter in a family of impoverished artists, it is her imagination and writing that takes us away from the ramshackle old English castle where they live, and towards an intriguing tale of husband-hunting and light-hearted sibling rivalry.
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Well, that was a surprise
- By Matthew on 12-16-13
By: Dodie Smith
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Coming up for Air
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Richard Brown
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- Unabridged
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George Bowling, an insurance salesman, hits middle age and feels impelled to “come up for air” from his life of quiet desperation. With seventeen pounds he has won at a race, he steals a vacation from his wife and family and pays a visit to Lower Binfield, the village where he grew up, to fish for carp in a pool he remembers from thirty years before. But the pool is gone, Lower Binfield has changed beyond recognition, and the principal event of Bowling’s holiday is an accidental bombing by the RAF.
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Orwell Flirts and Fishes w/ Nostalgia & Modernity.
- By Darwin8u on 07-10-12
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Decline and Fall
- By: Evelyn Waugh
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Sent down from Oxford after a wild, drunken party, Paul Pennyfeather is oddly surprised to find himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at a boys' private school in Wales. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, rascals and fools, including Prendy (plagued by doubts) and Captain Grimes, who is always in the soup (or just plain drunk). Then Sports Day arrives, and with it the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, floating on a scented breeze.
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Black Humor, Satire, and the Absurd
- By Gypsi on 06-09-18
By: Evelyn Waugh
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Excellent Women
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Mildred Lathbury is a clergyman's daughter and a mild-mannered spinster in 1950s England. She is one of those excellent women - the smart, supportive, repressed women whom men take for granted. As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors - anthropologist Helena Napier; Helen's handsome, dashing husband, Rocky; and Julian Malory, the vicar next door - the novel presents a series of snapshots of human life as actually, and pluckily, lived.
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Still Waters Run Deep
- By Sara on 04-13-16
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Staying On
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Tusker and Lily Smalley stayed on in India. Given the chance to return ‘home’ when Tusker, once a Colonel in the British Army, retired, they chose instead to remain in the small hill town of Pankot, with its eccentric inhabitants and archaic rituals left over from the days of the Empire. Only the tyranny of their imposing landlady threatens to upset the quiet rhythm of their days.
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A Pleasant Meander
- By Ian C Robertson on 09-22-14
By: Paul Scott
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What listeners say about Below Stairs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Hayley
- 08-09-22
Didn't expect this to be so funny!
Really fascinating glimpse of an era recently brought to life by Downton Abbey. Narrator was excellent. Story was well-told and I found myself laughing out loud at the author's dry, British humor.
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- Gigis Buys
- 01-12-21
lovely narrative about life in service
Loved the narration. Lively storytelling with wit & fast paced dialogue to keep you interested
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- Anonymous User
- 08-14-17
Excellent Narration And Great Story
If you enjoy excellent narration and want to hear another example of such, then this book is most certainly for you! Mary Jane Wells does an outstanding job and really brings the book to life. At one point I thought that she had perhaps written in the book herself because she read it as if she really did live it, and that I think makes her a master of her craft.
The content of the book was also excellent and really gave me a better understanding of where the writers of Downton Abbey were able to get some of their ideas.
Overall: excellent!
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- Zia
- 10-03-19
Lovely
This is a collection of little stories from her life, there is no overarching storyline like you would find in a novel. But it’s real life. I love these kind of books, it’s like listening to your grandparents tell stories of their lives. The narrator was great too.
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- Stephanie
- 10-07-21
Very sweet story
As a fan of Call the Midwife and Downton Abbey, I thought I would give this book a try. I really enjoyed the honest story telling of the author. Nothing was sacred even in the prim and proper aristocratic households of England. It is also an encouraging story of not allowing your beginning in life dictate your future.
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- Maya Antony
- 05-19-23
Wonderful!
Loved this book! Well written and absolutely fascinating. Even my teenagers would go quite still and stop talking to listen.
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- Kate
- 06-12-23
Very good insight into historical class based system
Very enlightening as to how those working class members truly saw themselves and their employers. I appreciated the small tidbits about her social life or moral restrictions.
She does seem angry a good deal throughout and that was a surprise. It should not have been, but it was.
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- Jean
- 07-07-13
Cooking and cleaning before the modern stoves etc
What attracted me to the book was the title saying it inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abby" . This is a story of a 14 year old off to work in service. Teenagers working was common in those years, the story took place just before WWI and after. Mary Wells did such a good job narrating and the book was written in a relaxed style I felt as if I was having a cup of tea with a friend, who was telling me about her first jobs. Up at 5:30 a.m. scrubbing and cleaning, light coal fires, and can you believe ironing bootlaces after shinning the shoes. From what she described I think houses must have been cleaner than today OR the coal heating made the constant cleaning a necessity. Having to cook everything from scratch, groceries delivered daily, (no refrigeration), making your own house cleaning solutions, no wonder they went to bed exhausted. Sure glad we have all our modern implements otherwise would never have time for anything but cleaning and cooking. The story is short, and written in a breezy manner that makes the ending come up way to fast. The book gives one a look into a way of life that is mostly gone after WWI.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Nancy Pearson
- 10-27-19
Below Stairs was fabulous
You will love this! Funny and educational all in one. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the period and what the class structure was all about while laughing all the way through.
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- Margaret
- 03-08-15
Still fresh look at "Downstairs"
I had to laugh when this memoir was described as "for fans of Downton Abbey" and suchlike. Margaret Langley, who was born in 1907 and wrote this in 1968, was a bright girl who couldn't afford to take up her scholarship at higher school, had to go to work at 14 instead. Her only choice was domestic service and she didn't like it or her "Upstairs" employers. There was no socializing between classes and very little liking or respect, contrary to the books and TV shows. Margaret became a cook, the highest she could rise in service, and still was at the mercy of demanding skinflint employers. The book is full of anecdotes, some of which made me LOL. Margaret continued to read, to the surprise of even her nicest mistress (and she has sharp words for that too), and by the end of the book is close to her A levels, as the British gates to higher (university) education were called then, which she's proud of reaching in her 60s. And yet she managed to enjoy life, to achieve her aim of marriage and escape from service outside the home until the WW II. She maintained a proud, openly feminist attitude toward her place in the class system but had the realism to know it wasn't likely to change, although she expected things to go on improving. I wonder if she saw Margaret Thatcher bulldoze many of the advances that had occurred. This book is funny and smart, but don't expect the rosy sentiments of shows like "Downton Abbey" even though you may enjoy this even more. Good performance too.
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