Below Stairs

This “quite brilliant” memoir of a life spent in service is a fascinating portrait of the long-gone worlds of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place (New York Times Book Review).

Vividly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants, Margaret Powell’s 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, she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed and mistresses to be appeased. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark.

It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye.

“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. . . . I certainly owe her a great debt.” —Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey