As a huge fan of the hit PBS television show Downton Abbey, I was extremely eager to read the book, Below Stairs, having heard it to be the main inspiration for the British television drama.  Created by Julian Fellowes set in the post-Edwardian era, the series is set in a time when living in enormous manors and having servants tend to your every need was the norm for upper class society.

The author of Below Stairs, Margaret Powell, writes about her job working as a kitchen maid and eventually a cook in her memoirs.  Eventually, her book became a national bestseller.  But she went on to write many other books about her many experiences that are treasures themselves.

One of her best is Servants’ Hall,  a detailed account about a love story between a housemaid named Rose and the son of the Lord at the house where she worked, Mr. Gerald.  Powell worked with Rose at Redlands, the home of Lord and Lady Wardham whose son was Mr. Gerald.

Rose and Gerald were sent away from Mr. Gerald’s parents and from Redlands after eloping and decided to move into a “smaller” house in a nearby town.  They hired a housekeeper to take care of Rose.

As Rose attempts to transform her life from rags to riches, she struggles to fit into the new environment above stairs.  Life completely different for servants and wives of wealthy men.  Rose came from a modest background and yearns for it now as she does not fit in well at her newly acclaimed social status.

Throughout the book, Powell also writes about her many jobs working as a cook at several different houses and about her own love life.  She talks about her many different bosses from the kindest to the cruelest and her many different love interests from the most alluring to the extremely dull.

Her writing is detailed and charming, like many British people are.  The social ladder of post-Edwardian England is simply fascinating.

This book would be interesting for anyone, not just lovers of Downton Abbey.  Powell gives a clear picture of what her life was like as a servant working and living below stairs.  She takes the reader to a time and place much different from here and now.

Servants’ Hall recieved 3 paws for being interesting and revealing.  But. it could be boring to some because of the nitty gritty details expressed in the book.  It is the first of Powell’s books I have read but I plan on purchasing all of her others.