Servants
A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Helen Stern
-
By:
-
Lucy Lethbridge
About this listen
The vividly told lives of British servants and the upper crust they served.
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. Spanning over 100 years, Lucy Lethbridge - in this "best type of history" (Literary Review) - brings to life through letters and diaries the voices of countless men and women who have been largely ignored by the historical record. She also interviews former and current servants for their recollections of this waning profession.
At the fore are the experiences of young girls who slept in damp corners of basements, kitchen maids who were required to stir eggs until the yolks were perfectly centered, and cleaners who had to scrub floors on their hands and knees despite the wide availability of vacuum cleaners. We also meet a lord who solved his inability to open a window by throwing a brick through it and Winston Churchill’s butler who did not think Churchill would know how to dress on his own.
A compassionate and discerning exploration of the complex relationship between the server, the served, and the world they lived in, Servants opens a window onto British society from the Edwardian period to the present.
©2013 Lucy Lethbridge (P)2013 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
-
-
Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
-
Tourists
- How the British Went Abroad to Find Themselves
- By: Lucy Lethbridge
- Narrated by: Lucy Lethbridge
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1815 the Battle of Waterloo brought to an end the Napoleonic Wars and the European continent opened up once again to British tourists. The nineteenth century was to be an age driven by steam technology, mass-industrialisation and movement, and, in the footsteps of the Grand Tourists a hundred years earlier, the British middle-classes flocked to Europe to see the sights. In Tourists, the voices of these travellers – puzzled, shocked, delighted and amazed – are brought vividly to life.
-
-
wonderful, no stone left unturned
- By C Arendt on 11-05-23
By: Lucy Lethbridge
-
Below Stairs
- The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey'
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Mary Wells
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Less than I was expecting...
- By Margaret on 05-15-13
By: Margaret Powell
-
Rose
- My Life in Service to Lady Astor
- By: Rosina Harrison
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.
-
-
AWFUL!! I was very disappointed.
- By The Louligan on 08-12-13
By: Rosina Harrison
-
Behind the Throne
- A Domestic History of the British Royal Household
- By: Adrian Tinniswood
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the listener on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.
-
-
Very Worthwhile
- By G. Cole on 12-13-18
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
-
-
Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
-
Tourists
- How the British Went Abroad to Find Themselves
- By: Lucy Lethbridge
- Narrated by: Lucy Lethbridge
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1815 the Battle of Waterloo brought to an end the Napoleonic Wars and the European continent opened up once again to British tourists. The nineteenth century was to be an age driven by steam technology, mass-industrialisation and movement, and, in the footsteps of the Grand Tourists a hundred years earlier, the British middle-classes flocked to Europe to see the sights. In Tourists, the voices of these travellers – puzzled, shocked, delighted and amazed – are brought vividly to life.
-
-
wonderful, no stone left unturned
- By C Arendt on 11-05-23
By: Lucy Lethbridge
-
Below Stairs
- The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey'
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Mary Wells
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Less than I was expecting...
- By Margaret on 05-15-13
By: Margaret Powell
-
Rose
- My Life in Service to Lady Astor
- By: Rosina Harrison
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.
-
-
AWFUL!! I was very disappointed.
- By The Louligan on 08-12-13
By: Rosina Harrison
-
Behind the Throne
- A Domestic History of the British Royal Household
- By: Adrian Tinniswood
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the listener on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.
-
-
Very Worthwhile
- By G. Cole on 12-13-18
-
Unruly
- The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: David Mitchell
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.
-
-
Hugely Entertaining (If You Like English History)
- By Jean Ogg on 10-09-23
By: David Mitchell
-
The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
-
-
SKIP THIS BOOK
- By Lady Aristotle on 09-05-22
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Wars of the Roses
- The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 15th century saw the longest and bloodiest series of civil wars in British history. The crown of England changed hands five times as two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought to the death for the right to rule. Now, celebrated historian Dan Jones describes how the longest reigning British royal family tore itself apart until it was finally replaced by the Tudors. Some of the greatest heroes and villains in history were thrown together in these turbulent times.
-
-
No Need for a Score Card
- By Troy on 01-16-15
By: Dan Jones
-
The Domestic Revolution
- How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No single invention epitomizes the Victorian era more than the black cast-iron range. Aware that the 21st-century has reduced it to a quaint relic, Ruth Goodman was determined to prove that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea: It might even have kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Wielding the wit and passion seen in How to Be a Victorian, Goodman traces the tectonic shift from wood to coal in the mid-16th century - from sooty trials and errors during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the totally smog-clouded reign of Queen Victoria.
-
-
Zombie Apocalypse
- By PeachPecan on 12-25-20
By: Ruth Goodman
-
The Private Lives of the Tudors
- Uncovering the Secrets of Britain's Greatest Dynasty
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England's Tudor monarchs - Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I - are perhaps the most celebrated and fascinating of all royal families in history. Their love affairs, their political triumphs, and their overturning of the religious order are the subject of countless works of popular scholarship. But for all we know about Henry's quest for male heirs or Elizabeth's purported virginity, the lives of the Tudor monarchs away from the public eye remain largely beyond our grasp, mostly not chronicled by previous historians.
-
-
The Narration Is Awful
- By Appollo 500 on 10-27-18
By: Tracy Borman
-
Upstairs & Downstairs
- My Life In Service as a Lady's Maid
- By: Hilda Newman, Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War.
-
-
Wonderful listen!!
- By J.T. on 09-25-19
By: Hilda Newman, and others
-
Servants' Hall
- A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among listeners reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.
-
-
Memoir of a Bygone Era
- By Michelle N. Lynch on 04-08-15
By: Margaret Powell
-
At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
-
-
Bryson does it again
- By Robert on 10-15-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Husband Hunters
- American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
-
-
Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
-
-
Detailed, Interesting and Entertaining
- By Marc-Andr? on 05-13-10
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The World of Downton Abbey
- By: Jessica Fellows
- Narrated by: Elizabeth McGovern
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Downton Abbey portrays a world of elegance and decadence, a world of duty and obedience, and a world of romance and rivalry. This companion book, full of rich historical detail, takes fans deeper into that period than ever before. Experience the inner workings of the downstairs life and be dazzled by the glamour of upstairs life with profiles of all the major characters, interviews with the actors, and behind the scenes insights.
-
-
Fun look at the backstory to Downton Abbey
- By Teddy on 08-15-12
By: Jessica Fellows
-
Jane Austen at Home
- A Biography
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Ruth Redman
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Take a trip back to Jane Austen's world and the many places she lived as historian Lucy Worsley visits Austen's childhood home, her schools, her holiday accommodations, the houses - both grand and small - of the relations upon whom she was dependent, and the home she shared with her mother and sister towards the end of her life.
-
-
As a Devoted Janeite - I loved this book!
- By Dorothy on 07-17-17
By: Lucy Worsley
Related to this topic
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
-
-
Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
-
Rose
- My Life in Service to Lady Astor
- By: Rosina Harrison
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.
-
-
AWFUL!! I was very disappointed.
- By The Louligan on 08-12-13
By: Rosina Harrison
-
Upstairs & Downstairs
- My Life In Service as a Lady's Maid
- By: Hilda Newman, Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War.
-
-
Wonderful listen!!
- By J.T. on 09-25-19
By: Hilda Newman, and others
-
The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
-
-
SKIP THIS BOOK
- By Lady Aristotle on 09-05-22
By: Ian Mortimer
-
Servants' Hall
- A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among listeners reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.
-
-
Memoir of a Bygone Era
- By Michelle N. Lynch on 04-08-15
By: Margaret Powell
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
-
-
Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
-
Rose
- My Life in Service to Lady Astor
- By: Rosina Harrison
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.
-
-
AWFUL!! I was very disappointed.
- By The Louligan on 08-12-13
By: Rosina Harrison
-
Upstairs & Downstairs
- My Life In Service as a Lady's Maid
- By: Hilda Newman, Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War.
-
-
Wonderful listen!!
- By J.T. on 09-25-19
By: Hilda Newman, and others
-
The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
-
-
SKIP THIS BOOK
- By Lady Aristotle on 09-05-22
By: Ian Mortimer
-
Servants' Hall
- A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among listeners reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.
-
-
Memoir of a Bygone Era
- By Michelle N. Lynch on 04-08-15
By: Margaret Powell
-
Home Fires
- The Story of the Women's Institute in the Second World War
- By: Julie Summers
- Narrated by: Juliet Mills
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Away from the frontlines of World War II, in towns and villages across Great Britain, ordinary women were playing a vital role in their country's war effort. As members of the Women's Institute, an organization with a presence in a third of Britain's villages, they ran canteens and knitted garments for troops, collected tons of rosehips and other herbs to replace medicines that couldn't be imported, and advised the government on issues ranging from evacuee housing to children's health to postwar reconstruction. But they are best known for making jam.
-
-
Tread Carefully & Be Amazed
- By Sara on 12-27-15
By: Julie Summers
-
A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain
- By: Michael Paterson
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Victorian era has dominated the popular imagination like no other period, but these myths and stories also give a very distorted view of the 19th century. The early Victorians were much stranger than we usually imagine, and their world would have felt very different from our own. It was only during the long reign of the Queen that a modern society emerged in unexpected ways.
-
-
Brief, But Insightful
- By Troy on 07-17-13
By: Michael Paterson
-
Wait for Me!
- Memoirs
- By: Deborah Mitford Duchess of Devonshire
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood that includes the writers Jessica and Nancy, who wrote when Deborah was born, "How disgusting of the poor darling to go and be a girl." Deborah's effervescent memoir chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her controversially political sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to the second son of the Duke of Devonshire.
-
-
The last of the Mitford Sisters
- By Irene on 01-11-11
-
Victorian London
- The Life of a City, 1840-1870
- By: Liza Picard
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like her previous books, this book will be the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life, and the conditions in which most people lived, so often left out of history books. This period of mid-Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects.
-
-
Unforgettable journey into the past
- By Adeliese Baumann on 05-27-18
By: Liza Picard
-
At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
-
-
Bryson does it again
- By Robert on 10-15-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
What She Ate
- Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories
- By: Laura Shapiro
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Laura Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beloved culinary historian's short takes on six famous women through the lens of food and cooking - what they ate and how their attitudes toward food offer surprising new insights into their lives. It's a lively and unpredictable array of women; what they have in common with one another (and us) is a powerful relationship with food.
-
-
Interesting, but don't think the book's premise...
- By Jay Quintana on 09-15-17
By: Laura Shapiro
-
The Husband Hunters
- American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
-
-
Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey
- The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle
- By: The Countess of Carnarvon
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey tells the story behind Highclere Castle, the real-life inspiration and setting for Julian Fellowes's Emmy Award-winning PBS series, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants: Lady Almina, the fifth Countess of Carnarvon. Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war.
-
-
the lowdown on Downton times
- By connie on 03-17-12
-
Ritz and Escoffier
- The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class
- By: Luke Barr
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In early August 1889, César Ritz, a Swiss hotelier highly regarded for his exquisite taste, found himself at the Savoy Hotel in London. He had come at the request of Richard D'Oyly Carte, the financier of Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operas, who had modernized theater and was now looking to create the world's best hotel. D'Oyly Carte soon seduced Ritz to move to London with his team, which included Auguste Escoffier, the chef de cuisine known for his elevated, original dishes.
-
-
Like Cesar Ritz, a real dandy
- By BenYL on 04-24-18
By: Luke Barr
-
Black Diamonds
- The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England
- By: Catherine Bailey
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the sixth Earl Fitzwilliam died in 1902, he left behind the second largest estate in 20th-century England, valued at more than three billion dollars in today's money - a lifeline to the tens of thousands of people who worked either in the family's coal mines or on their expansive estate. The earl also left behind four sons, and the family line seemed assured. But was it?
-
-
Could use a good editor...
- By Phyllis on 04-30-18
By: Catherine Bailey
-
Daddy-Long-Legs
- By: Jean Webster
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerusha Abbott is the oldest orphan in the John Grier Home. Every day she helps scrub and dress the younger children - all 97 of them. Soon she will graduate from high school and be on her own. Where will she go, and how will she support herself? When an anonymous wealthy donor decides to send her to college, Jerusha can hardly believe her good fortune. All she must do in return is send him a letter once a month. With all the excitement of college life - classes, parties, new friends, and a special gentleman - Jerusha can hardly stop writing!
-
-
Delightful
- By Greg and Sara Masarik on 04-06-15
By: Jean Webster
-
Labyrinths
- Emma Jung, Her Marriage to Carl, and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis
- By: Catrine Clay
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clever and ambitious, Emma Jung yearned to study the natural sciences at the University of Zurich. But the strict rules of proper Swiss society at the beginning of the 20th century dictated that a woman of Emma's stature - one of the richest heiresses in Switzerland - travel to Paris to "finish" her education, to prepare for marriage to a suitable man. Engaged to the son of one of her father's wealthy business colleagues, Emma's conventional and predictable life was upended when she met Carl Jung.
-
-
Carl plays center stage
- By Sparrowhawk on 12-23-16
By: Catrine Clay
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
Below Stairs
- The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey'
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Mary Wells
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Less than I was expecting...
- By Margaret on 05-15-13
By: Margaret Powell
-
Servants' Hall
- A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among listeners reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.
-
-
Memoir of a Bygone Era
- By Michelle N. Lynch on 04-08-15
By: Margaret Powell
-
Upstairs & Downstairs
- My Life In Service as a Lady's Maid
- By: Hilda Newman, Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War.
-
-
Wonderful listen!!
- By J.T. on 09-25-19
By: Hilda Newman, and others
-
Behind the Throne
- A Domestic History of the British Royal Household
- By: Adrian Tinniswood
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the listener on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.
-
-
Very Worthwhile
- By G. Cole on 12-13-18
-
Victorian London
- The Life of a City, 1840-1870
- By: Liza Picard
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like her previous books, this book will be the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life, and the conditions in which most people lived, so often left out of history books. This period of mid-Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects.
-
-
Unforgettable journey into the past
- By Adeliese Baumann on 05-27-18
By: Liza Picard
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
Below Stairs
- The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey'
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Mary Wells
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Less than I was expecting...
- By Margaret on 05-15-13
By: Margaret Powell
-
Servants' Hall
- A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among listeners reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.
-
-
Memoir of a Bygone Era
- By Michelle N. Lynch on 04-08-15
By: Margaret Powell
-
Upstairs & Downstairs
- My Life In Service as a Lady's Maid
- By: Hilda Newman, Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War.
-
-
Wonderful listen!!
- By J.T. on 09-25-19
By: Hilda Newman, and others
-
Behind the Throne
- A Domestic History of the British Royal Household
- By: Adrian Tinniswood
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the listener on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.
-
-
Very Worthwhile
- By G. Cole on 12-13-18
-
Victorian London
- The Life of a City, 1840-1870
- By: Liza Picard
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like her previous books, this book will be the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life, and the conditions in which most people lived, so often left out of history books. This period of mid-Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects.
-
-
Unforgettable journey into the past
- By Adeliese Baumann on 05-27-18
By: Liza Picard
What listeners say about Servants
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angelina Sorrell
- 03-27-18
kept my ear
kept my interest and it was good to see and way servants felt about there work both good and bad
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shan
- 12-09-14
Well-researched book spoiled by narrator
Any additional comments?
I enjoyed the content of this book very much - it's a well-researched collection of slice-of-life accounts from both sides of the British social gap in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I appreciated that we heard from both the servants and their (usually oblivious) masters, and that the author followed the changing societal attitudes towards service as time went on and WWI began. However, I probably would have enjoyed it more as a physical book than as an audiobook. The narrator has a distracting habit of pausing every few words whether or not it made sense as a stopping point in the sentence, which breaks up the flow of the writing and makes it hard to follow.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. L. H.
- 03-08-19
Excellent Historical Information
I really enjoyed the historical experience that this book gave. I imagine going from the Edwardian period to today! Excellent listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Great book. Fascinating history.
If you are interested in social studies you will enjoy this book. Well researched and written. Beautiful narration. Fascinating stories of a beautiful culture of duty-motivated people. Not a book you will forget. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Allyssia
- 06-14-18
A Masterpiece
This is the most comprehensive book on domestic workers and their history. Lucy Lethbridge does a marvelous job at delivering intriguing captivating content and still keeping an impartial tone.
This book allows us to understand the impact of servants on society development and how their decisions dramatically altered the course of history, shaping the world into what we know nowadays.
More than just the history of maids or cooks, this is the history of families, economy, women's rights, habits, education and specially the history of modern world values.I could have never imagined house workers to have influenced society that much, which just makes it more impressive.
Aside from the brilliant job presenting history with so many vivid details, the author also filled the book with dozens of fascinating stories, such as the maid who had her finger stabbed for touching the food. It's a very interesting book from beginning to end and it will surely keep you entertained.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- thekgbstudio
- 09-22-18
Loved the story very uneven performance
The voice changed I could tell things were added, it was almost unbearable in some spots. I soldiered on nexuses I liked the information. But will avoid books by same performer
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- redsrule1
- 01-11-15
Interesting but gaps in info, narration difficult
Interesting look into Edwardian Britain's service customs, but for a non-Briton there are quite a few terms the author uses but does not define, apparently assuming the reader already knows. As for the narration, Ms. Stern reads quotations mimicking the accents she expects that the writer would have spoken which takes me right out of the narrative as if I've hit a speedbump. Therefore we have Germans speaking in a cartoonish stereotypical manner, various forms of Cockney and other accents from the British Isles, and apparently Ms. Stern believes that all Americans sound as if they are from the Jersey Shore. This, combined with her halting manner of delivering un-accented narration, make it, while not an unendurable listen, harder to follow and less enjoyable than it could have been. I wouldn't say to avoid this book, but you might enjoy the printed version more.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary Elizabeth Reynolds
- 03-16-14
A collection of stories about servants
I didn't come away with much more from this than an affirmation that classed societies don't work very well for those on the bottom. I got the feeling that the author admired these people, saw them as a type of hero or heroine, maybe they were--they certainly didn't have a lot of choices to act on their own accords.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- PaganDeva2000
- 12-14-22
REALITY!
There is no way I can romanticize the Victorian society after listening to this! These poor people were taken for granted! They were invisible, sub-human and treated like cattle. No rest for the weary, no warmth from the cold. Just existing and breathing until they met their makers for these clueless, cruel and superficial people!
This is an excellent listen to learn how people were regarded and treated. I thank the author for sharing this reality. I’d love to know how today’s royal servants are faring.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- dianna hargreaves
- 01-11-19
wonderful
excellent details to let your mind create the characters. look forward to more from this author and narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!