Suggestions?

I was recently watching Downton Abbey and Lark Rise to Candleford. I would like to read some books that include and discuss the lives of the everyday people during these times (Edwardian and Victorian). Any suggestions?

Victorian London by Liza Picard is an excellent introduction to what life was like for the folks in that grand city. She's a marvelous writer IMHO and her books are as much about the everyday folks as about the upper crust. When I read her books I feel like I'm sitting with a favorite aunt who's telling me great stories about the old days.

There's also Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England which is pretty good as well.

I will definitely have to check out Victorian London! Thanks you very much for your recs. :)

My specialist subject! Here are some favourites from my library:

The Victorian Home - Kathryn Ferry
The Victorian Childhood - Janet Sacks
A Victorian Household: Based on the Diaries of Marion Sambourne - Shirley Nicholson
Consuming Passions - Judith Flanders
The Victorian House - Judith Flanders
Victorian Women - Joan Perkin
Victorian London - Liza Picard
What the Victorians Did For Us - Adam Hart-Davis
The Edwardian Country House - Juliet Gardiner
Edwardian Childhood - Jane Pettigrew

For readability and sheer pleasure I'd especially recommend the ones by Judith Flanders and Juliet Gardiner. There are also lots of other slightly more specialised on my shelves - eg. the workhouse, crime, the Victorians's obsession with ghosts/mediums etc, so do feel free to have a browse any time you like. They are in the collection marked History.

The Victorians and Edwardians at work and play readable and informative about the everyday lives of people. Focus is mainly on the Edwardian period. Basically colourized picture-postcards with narrative. Interesting read.

Have you read the Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy? It's wonderful, though from what I've heard very different from the TV adaptation (which I haven't seen).

I also recommend Pamela Horn's The Victorian Country Child and Life in the Victorian Country House