Downton Abbey

[JoeD]

Having just watched the 2nd series of Downton Abbey (first was more enjoyable imo), I'm now wondering if there any books along the same lines? Either "classics" or more recently written.

[Coralm]

I don't have any recs for this one, but I can't wait to see if anyone else answers. I watched the first season recently and really enjoyed it.

[toomanybooks]

Upstairs, Downstairs

"Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series[1] shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.

Set in a large townhouse in Edwardian, First World War, and Inter-War Belgravia in London, the series depicted the lives of the servants "downstairs" and their masters "upstairs". Great events feature prominently in the episodes but minor or gradual changes are also noted. It stands as a document of the social and technological changes that occurred between 1903 and 1930." From Wikipedia

There are also novelization of the series.

[BenG]

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy?

[cearbhallain]

If you'd like to explore the late 19th early 20th century class struggle, I'd recomment Edith Warton. House of Mirth and Age of Innocence in particular feature strong social commentary. The author was of the upper class and is particularly damning of the strict social control that was needed to perpetuate that particular social order.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by JoeD

Having just watched the 2nd series of Downton Abbey (first was more enjoyable imo), I'm now wondering if there any books along the same lines? Either "classics" or more recently written.

Well, I found it difficult to believe both series were written by the same author, frankly.

I thought I had Julian Fellows pretty well tagged as an intelligent writer and actor - you don't usually get Oscars and piles of awards for writing tosh, unless it's good, high-class tosh, naturally....

And the first series was, I thought, high-class, intelligent, well written,very enjoyable tosh, and led to the odd tussle for the remote and control of the Humax.
But the second series is just plain tosh.
And the trend has even extended to the actors, all of whom seem to have attended a course on the Art of Coarse Acting since the first tranche.
( Except Dame Maggie, of course, who long ago perfected imbueing ham and tosh with enough skill and pleasure for her to can play rubbish to me any day.and it'll still be better than many other actors can deliver Shakespeare.)

Of course, the actors are not served with much opportunity to deliveer anything but ham, considering many of the lines and situations they've been lumbered with.
It's got to the stage now where I'm loathe to miss it, because of the awful inevitability of it all !

Oh, alas and alack, how standars fell after the First War........

[JaneD]

I also agree the first series was more enjoyable than the second. So many odd plot devices and dumb twists in series 2! Hopefully they'll get back on track for series 3.

As for books that feel like they run along those lines, here are a few suggestions:

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford.
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves. (His WWI memoir. Not available as an ebook in the USA as far as I can tell.)
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. (Also hard to find as an ebook in the USA.)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.
If you like poetry, I'd recommend Wilfred Owen.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by JaneD;The Remains of the Day[/URL

by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Wonderful book............