This was a light easy read. I'm fascinated by this time period. It is amazing the disconnect between Nobility and those who served them. I was surprised to find the gender based differences. Service was disproportionately female and young. Young women starting in service had to provide their own uniforms. So many had to work for 2 to 4 years prior to service just to earn the cost of their starting dresses. In addition they were paid considerably less and had horrible duties and long hours. The working conditions weren't better for the young men as far as hours and harrowing duties. However they were paid more and their upper positions came with much status and prestige. In addition their quite well made and very expensive livery plus powdered wigs were provided and tailored by the employers.
I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan and I'm afraid this had made the storyline regarding the staff relationships with The Family seem preposterous. That's unfortunate and almost seems a silencing of the servants true stories which do deserve to be told. ( )

This book is an enjoyable primer into the lives of English domestic servants in the early 20th century. In it, Alison Maloney covers the basics of their existence, from the experience of hiring and the background of the servants through their daily routines to the aspects of their lives outside of their work. As one might expect Downton Abbey is a clear inspiration behind the book, which is reflected in the occasional quotes about domestic service during that era from various people involved with the show. Yet Maloney’s book stands on its own as a short overview to the people “downstairs,” and is an excellent book for anyone seeking an introduction to the world in which they lived. ( )

Below Stairs was better, although this did have some interesting historical details about wages and whatnot. ( )

For fans of Upstairs, Downstairs & Downtown Abbey (ME!), comes Life Below Stairs. It's a fabulous, fascinating look at the true lives of servants who served the rich and fabulously wealthy.

It's definitely written towards fans of the two mentioned series - it's a rather light look, doesn't get into a lot of details, and doesn't hit upon any of the negative aspects of being a servant - like 80 hour work weeks for no pay or sleep or freedom. Anyone who really knows the time period well, or the history of servants, will find this book too light to really enjoy, but for someone like me who was introduced to the time period through Downtown Abbey, it was a great read, though I really do wish there was MORE as the volume is pretty small.

The photographs and letters were a nice touch. ( )

Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants by Alison Maloney
192 pages

★★

This sounded like such a fascinating book to me when I checked it out at the library, at least for a history geek like myself. But I was highly disappointed. It reads so much like a text book, a poorly formatted one at that. Everything is put into subcategories such as “How a butler dresses”, “How a house maid dresses” “Hiring of servants”, etc…some being only a paragraph or so and it just ended up feeling repetitive. There is some good information within but the writing lacked any personality and came off as quite dry. Some good pictures as well but not enough to save this book. She uses long quotes and paraphrasing from other history and memoir books (where is seems she mostly copied her info from) that seemed way more interesting so I may give one of those a try. An okay book for quick information but there are definitely better reads with better information in them.


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