Books like Downton Abbey...need recs.

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6627 Location: minneapolis

I have been watching Downton Abbey and I just love it. It is beautifully done, and I get lost in the drama. I would like recs for this setting. Britian 1912 (the first showing in season 1 was right after the sinking of Titanic). The books don't have to be within the romance genre, historical fiction is just fine too...Thanks!

P.S...I know there is an existing thread somewhere, but I could not find it.
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Manda · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 519

Laura Lee Guhrke has an Edwardian set duology, TROUBLE AT THE WEDDING and SCANDAL OF THE YEAR.

If you like mysteries Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series is wonderful. It's set between the wars and follows the exploits of former housemaid turned war nurse turned private investigator, Maisie Dobbs. Really lovely atmosphere and historical detail.
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Manda Collins

Sandlynn · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 1601 Location: Washington, D.C.

Neither of these versions of these stories are books, but are miniseries.... If you are interested in other miniseries set in that period you might try:

House of Eliott

and/or

Flambards

MrsFairfax · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 1065

House at Riverton by Kate Morton, also (I think) The Distant Hours

The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott (It ends up on the US side of the pond, though.)

The Bess Crawford novels by Charles Todd, starting with A Duty to the Dead (a bit later, the first one opens in 1916 with Bess aboard the Britannic.)

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (it's post WWII but it's upstairs/downstairs)

Crimson Rooms by Katherine McMahon

Dark Lantern by Geri Brightwell (I really liked this one but rarely hear of anyone else who's read it)

I've liked all those (okay, except The Dressmaker, but it's getting good reviews from people other than me). I've heard good things about

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (or you could just watch the movie)
Anne Perry's WWI novels starting with No Graves As Yet
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xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6627 Location: minneapolis

Thank-you all for the suggetions! I'm very interested in this setting, so I'll be sure to be trying many of these books. We are planning a shopping trip to all our favorite used books stores later in the week. I'll have a nice list with me. Thanks again
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"As you wish"
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xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6627 Location: minneapolis

D Rogers · Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 149

You could also try some of the authors who were writing during that period. Persephone Press specializes in publishing books by '20s authors, particularly women writers like Winifred Watson (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), Katherine Mansfield, and Dorothy Whipple (They Knew Mr. Knight).

If you are interested in a nurse's story, you might read Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth (it's also a BBC series) or Mary Borden's The Forbidden Zone. It would be interesting to compare Sybil's experience to a real life nurse in WWI.

Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries are all set during the '20s and '30s. Lord Peter was a WWI vet born about 1890. He would have been about Matthew Crawley's age.

Denise

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6627 Location: minneapolis

D Rogers · Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 149

The only Lord Peter books you might want/need to read in order are the ones with Harriet Vane. In that case, you would start with Strong Poison, then read Have His Carcase, then Gaudy Night, then Busman's Honeymoon, though really they work perfectly well as stand alone novels.

The pre-Harriet books can be read out of order. A lot of people start with Clouds of Witness wherein Lord Peter's brother Gerald is tried for murder.

Denise

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6627 Location: minneapolis