num_pages: 212
description: Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants Margaret Powell's classic memoir of her time in service is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who though she served in the great houses of England never stopped aiming high.Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs Margaret Powell's classic memoir of her time in service Below Stairs is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who though she served in the great houses of England never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s. As a kitchen maid - the lowest of the low - she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked vegetables to be scrubbed mistresses to be appeased and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5:30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove where money and food were scarce but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids' curlers to raucous tea-dances with errand boys to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid fired for being seduced by her mistress's nephew Margaret's tales of her time in service are told with wit warmth and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Margaret Powell's true story of a life spent in service is a fascinating downstairs portrait of the glittering long-gone worlds behind the closed doors of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.
language: English
title: Below Stairs
publisher: St. Martin's Press