Climbing the Stairs Audiobook By Margaret Powell cover art

Climbing the Stairs

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Climbing the Stairs

By: Margaret Powell
Narrated by: Mary Wells
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

From the grand houses of Brighton to imposing London mansions, life as a kitchen maid could be exhausting and demoralizing. It's not just being at the beck and call of the people upstairs, when even the children of the family can treat you like dirt, but having to deal with temperamental cooks, starchy butlers, and chauffeurs with a roving eye. Marriage is the only escape, but with one evening off a week Margaret has no time to lose. Between Perce the bus conductor (who brings his mother on dates) and Mr. Hailsham the fishmonger (who looks - and smells - a bit like his wares), her initial prospects are hardly the stuff of dreams. But then she meets Albert; a butcher boy-turned-milkman. Could he be the perfect husband? And can she make the perfect wife when, as she soon discovers, years spent serving others don't prepare you for managing your own life? Soon Margaret begins to wonder - how can someone like her ever improve their station?

Told with her trademark wit and warmth, Climbing the Stairs is a unique, sharp-eyed tale of a time when the idea of masters and servants began to lose its sway, and of a remarkable woman who grasped the opportunities of this brave new world with both hands.

©1969 Margaret Powell and Leigh Crutchley (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Marriage

Critic reviews

"Margaret Powell was the first person outside my family to introduce me to that world, so near and yet seemingly so far away, where servants and their employers would live their vividly different lives under one roof. Her memories, funny and poignant, angry and charming, haunted me until, many years later, I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera. I certainly owe her a great debt." (Julian Fellowes)

People who viewed this also viewed...

Below Stairs Audiobook By Margaret Powell cover art
Below Stairs By: Margaret Powell
All stars
Most relevant  
There were quite a few repeat loops in the recording. The same bit repeated.

Lots of editing mistakes

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Gives a look into the life is a domestic servant who was feisty and intelligent. Margaret Powell really made it successful in life! She was able to get on...

Delightfully Interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoying listening to the whole series. Especially by the writer herself. Gives feeling and creates atmosphere.

reading by Powell

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.