The Dirt on the Cleaners

Can’t get enough of Downton Abbey? Wonder what it was really like to be “in service” in England? BPL has the answers! Check out any of these titles to get the inside scoop on the real lives of servants from the aristocratic butlers to the lowly tweenys:


If you like your dirt in scholarly form (but still an entertaining read), look into Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times.

And if you like a little Austen with your curiosity, check out Longbourn by Jo Baker. It’s Pride and Prejudice viewed from the servants’ hall, and a real eye-opener. Where gentlemen reside there are also “gentleman's gentlemen” and romance and misalliances are not limited to the posh set.

Kelley Laney
Springville Road Library

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