After many weeks waiting for my order of The World of Downton Abbey to arrive, at last I am rewarded for my patience and immediately bump it up to my list of must read books. This book is the perfect companion to Downton Abbey, the British television period drama series created and written by Julian Fellowes, the Oscar winner writer for Gosford Park. It is no wonder that this hugely successful and critically acclaimed and currently on its second series on UK primetime television deserves a book solely dedicated to discovering the secrets, intricacies and intrigues behind the aristocratic Crawley family who lives there and their servants.
Let me talk a little bit about the background of this wonderful new series that has captured my heart. It is set during the Edwardian era and in the fictional Yorkshire estate of Downton Abbey, hence its name. The first series begins just after the sinking of RMS Titanic which leaves Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham without an heir presumptive because his cousin James and James's son, Patrick, perish in that horrific disaster. As both his title and estate must go to male heirs because of primogeniture and entailment laws, his eldest daughter Lady Mary is sidelined in this rigid inheritance system. The search is on for the next male heir who turns out to be Lord Grantham's third cousin, once removed, Matthew Crawley, an upper middle-class solicitor based in Manchester. Viewers get to witness the drama, disagreements, romances and scandals as each members of the Crawley family and their downstairs staff play their roles to perfection with subtle touches of humour and wittiness.
This book is meticulously divided into nine chapters that concentrates on family life, society, change, life in service, style, house and estate, romance, war and behind the scenes with an excellent foreword provided by series creator Julian Fellowes. We learn about his inspiration to create this television series due to England's lost country houses in the 1950s right up to the '70s that motivates him to revive the glory days and preserve this lost heritage. Written by his niece Jessica Fellowes, we get inside knowledge of the goings-on and significant events happening under the roof of this magnificent country house. Each page is filled to the brim with historical facts, character portrayal and behind the scenes tidbits accompanied by colourful and stunning photo stills, promotional shoots and original photos of real people from the era that are carefully selected to reflect the extensive research done. In addition, opinions from the actors and actresses playing their respective parts are also quoted.
What I find most fascinating is the influx of young American heiresses, termed as buccaneers, who successfully married into European aristocratic families who are almost always cash-poor but land-rich. We know that Cora, the current Countess of Grantham is one of them where her father made his millions in dry goods business in Cincinnati. Did you know that the courtesy title held by Robert Crawley before inheriting the earldom at the death of his father is Viscount Downton? That would make Cora styled as Lady Downton on her marriage to Robert. The suffragette movements and politics of that time helped to put Downton Abbey into perspective on real-life events occurring at that time when the series are set by providing a timeline of leading events of the day. There is also a brief mention of newer technology put to use such as motorcars and vacuum cleaners that usher the people into a new and unknown era which in turn influence the economic and social upheaval in later years. Literary reads of that time include famous works by Rudyard Kipling and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's last novel on Sherlock Holmes.
Life in the service primarily talks about the serving class made up from scullery maid right up to the top of the hierarchy which is headed by the butler. We read that Daisy's role is actually an amalgam of scullery, stillroom and kitchen maid for creative reasons. Valet and lady's maid are the closest to the master and mistress of the house so they hear the news first before using this knowledge to their advantage like O'Brien, lady's maid to the Countess of Grantham, who knew about the demise of Lord Grantham's heirs before the other servants. I really like this chapter which explains the job functions of each of the staff and a little bit about the characters' background. It is certainly interesting to read and view the detailed attention paid in creating or sourcing the fashionable frocks and the different type of corsets worn by Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, and her granddaughters.
The Great War (or World War I) is featured prominently since the second series starts in the middle of the war where we find Matthew and former first footman Thomas taking part in the Battle of Somme. It is interesting to note that historical facts are seamlessly interwoven into this book to give it a real-life experience of what actually took place in battlefield. For instance, there is an account of executed soldiers because they deserted the army through an act of cowardice. The last chapter informs readers of the continuous hard work put into the planning and production of this series to achieve the satisfying end result.
Truly, this coffee table book is highly recommended for fans who really appreciates and love this period drama. I guarantee you will enjoy reading The World of Downton Abbey as much as watching the drama unfold on television. I conclude this review by showing the book trailer from Waterstones bookstore to entice you to read it. Enjoy!
And here is the official and longer book trailer found at Amazon UK website:
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