Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey" Paperback Author: Visit Amazon's Margaret Powell Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1250023211 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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From Booklist
The popularity of Sunday school among the working classes had less to do with religion than parents’ much-needed private time, according to Margaret Powell. Such revelations are rampant in Below Stairs, a fascinating and feisty memoir of Powell’s life as a kitchen maid and cook in 1920s England. Originally published in the UK in 1968, it’s again a best-seller there after the debut of the Emmy Award–winning series, Downton Abbey, which, along with Upstairs Downstairs, took inspiration from the book. Powell writes conversationally, offering cutting and humorous insights. She piles on the details of a domestic servant’s day—up at 5:30, work enough for six people, and don’t forget to iron the bootlaces—but stops before she falls into self-pity. Running through it all is the divide between the servants and Them, manifesting itself in everything from the sad parade of practical Christmas gifts to the employer’s order that nothing be served from a servant’s bare hands. Powell reminds readers that these things shouldn’t be forgotten, and she is an honest, saucy, and skilled storyteller. --Bridget Thoreson
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Anyone who enjoyed Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs will relish this feisty memoir.”--Dame Eileen Atkins, co-creator of Upstairs, Downstairs
“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, creator of Downton Abbey
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- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Later Printing edition (December 24, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1250023211
- ISBN-13: 978-1250023216
- Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
I bought this book solely on the basis of the second half of the title - "The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Downton Abbey'". I am a far bigger fan of Downton Abbey than I was of Upstairs, Downstairs, but never mind that. What a charming and delightful memoir!
The book's notes say that the first volume of Margaret Powell's memoirs were first published in 1968. That would also be consistent with the declaration that this book helped inspire Upstairs, Downstairs which I think originally ran from 1971-1975. I am assuming (but I may be wrong), that this book is the compilation of her original memoirs. Since the author passed away in 1984, she couldn't very well have added anything recently unless the family came across additional writings which she might have done.
Anyway, onto the book itself which is charming and written in very British English. I had to resort to the dictionary a few times to find the meaning of a British term with which I was unfamiliar, but who doesn't love learning some new words? It tells Margaret's story in her own words, from childhood through older age when she was finally able to return to school. It was so easy to put myself in her place as the story unfolded, trying to imagine what I might have said or done in the same circumstances which she describes as first a kitchen maid in service and then a cook.
One thing I might want to point out to potential readers who are expecting to read something with a storyline like Downton Abbey's multilayered saga - This is Margaret's personal story. Other characters enter and exit, but it is essentially Margaret's struggle to survive in service during the early part of the 20th century.
This was a humorous account of life in service in the early to mid 1900s. Margaret Langley Powell [1907-1984] started in the lowest position of service in the British household, that of being a cook's helper; meaning she did all the dirty work in the kitchen. She finally rose to the rank of cook with her own helper, after which she became an author and life was a bit easier for her later years. Since this book was originally published in 1968, she really had a hard life until she was 61.
I particularly loved her descriptions of life in service without the use of vulgar language thrown in gratis by most modern authors. I would like to give a few examples that sum up her thoughts, at least as I see them.
1. "...when you see an economic recipe and they say you can't taste the difference from the original, [normally this meant substituting margarine for butter] well probably you can't if you've never eaten the original." P96
2. In speaking of her disdain for employers always being practical, "At Christmas we got presents of cloth to make things with, aprons and horrible sensible presents." P98
3. One of the cutest stories about sex without using the word was told about the upstairs parlor maid Gladys and her family, "According to Gladys, her father drank like a fish and he came home most nights roaring drunk and incapable. I used to think he couldn't have been SO incapable, otherwise her mother couldn't have had nineteen children, could she?" :)
4. In describing her regular Spring cleaning chores at one household she says, "During these four weeks I got up at five o'clock each morning and I worked until eight o'clock at night. Then I had to get supper for the servants after that.
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