Historian Simon Schama calls it another example of British television’s “cultural necrophilia”. Well then, bring out your dead…the Downton Abbey miniseries now airing Sunday nights on PBS has invigorated public television, revved up sales of cloche hats and maxi skirts, and has publishers scrambling to appeal to readers who devour period dramas. And what a drama it is...fading aristocracy…the anguish of World War I…mercenary marriage-making… malevolent ladies maids….damaging secrets…perculating progressives…and enough good, loyal servants to insure that everyone is dressed for dinner on time. Accuracy, it seems, is beside the point. For those wishing for a less moth-eaten picture of the time…or counting tea times until the next episode, Michael Hermann owner of Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord is with us to share some suggested reading.
Michael's Downton-inspired book list:
Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain
Lady Almina & the Real Downton Abbey, by the Countess of Carnavon
Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor, by Rosina Harrison
Fiction
A Long, Long Way, by Sebastian Barry
Regeneration, by Pat Barker (first of a trilogy)
Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett
The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307473066
The Forsyte Saga, by John Galsworthy
Code of the Woosters, by P. G. Wodehouse (one of many Jeeves novels)
Lark Rise to Candleford, by Flora Thompson
The Shooting Party, by Isabel Colegate
The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton
The Buccaneers, by Edith Wharton (1870s, but on point with American heiresses trying to break into British society)
Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf (not strong on plot, bless her, but great at capturing the interior life. One of her characters here is a WWI vet who is subject to hallucinations)
Poetry
World War I poets Brooke, Sassoon, Owen, and others are published separately, and some of their poems are collected in this Dover edition.
Drama
Heartbreak House, by Bernard Shaw
History
The Great War and Modern Memory, by Paul Fussell
The Proud Tower, by Barbara Tuchman
The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm, by Juliet Nicolson
The Viceroy's Daughters, by Anne DeCourcy (out of print, but find it in your
library!) To End All Wars, by Adam Hochschild
Curzon: Imperial Statesman, by David Gilmour
Mysteries and other light fare
Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear (first of a series)
An Impartial Witness, by Charles Todd (part of a series)
A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson (this is great for the young adult
market)
