Review: Lottery Winners, Take Note
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 23, 2013
This curiosity of a book was written in the early 1900s. A sparkly bit of fluff, the story takes place during the downfall of the British aristocracy in the time when large estates became a financial drain and could not support the old lifestyle. And yet, thanks to a mind-set developed over centuries, "gentlemen" distained working as an option.This comedy of manners shows what happens when a young housemaid inherits a fortune and hires her young, penniless former mistress as her maid. Madness ensues as the "maid" tries to polish her new mistress and help her navigate the potential disasters awaiting her in society and among fortune hunters.Since this is a comedy of manners, stereotypes are used liberally. Some, like the handsome, sweet-talking, duplicitous Irishman fit into the story.Others, like the villain--an oily, mean-spirited foreign Jew--make modern readers cringe.It is best to keep in mind that this book comes from an earlier age with all the prejudices of that age.It also helps to remember that the setting is around the time of World War I when a swastika was merely an ancient good luck symbol.