Below Stairs

Author: Margaret Powell
Publisher: Pan
ISBN: 1743038801
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Book Description
A compelling and colourful memoir that takes the reader inside the forgotten world of domestic service. Arriving at the great houses of 1920s London, fifteen-year-old Margaret's life in service was about to begin... 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 even bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids' curlers, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress' nephew, Margaret's tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation.

The Girl Below Stairs

Author: Jennie Felton
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 1472210506
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
'Believable characters, a vivid sense of time and place, thoroughly enjoyable' Rosie Goodwin The emotionally gripping third book in the beloved classic series from 'one of the nation's favourite saga author' (Lancashire Post) in the grand tradition of Katie Flynn, Dilly Court and Josephine Cox. Jennie's heartwarming and heartrending sagas are richly praised! 'Jennie Felton knows how to tell a cracking story and keep the reader gripped... if you enjoy reading books in the style of Catherine Cookson then this one is for you' Books With Wine and Chocolate 'Another superbly woven and character-rich story from a saga author who writes from the heart' Peterborough Telegraph 'Packed full of Jennie's signature strong heroines, this book will keep you guessing' MNR Journal Edie Cooper has grown up at Fairley Terrace, surrounded by a loving family. Now she spends her days working as lady's maid to Christina, the adopted daughter of the powerful Fairley family, and her nights dreaming of a life with handsome local lad Charlie Oglethorpe. Although broken-hearted when Charlie leaves to make his fortune in London, Edie finds consolation in her friendship with Christina, who asks for her help in uncovering the mystery of her true parentage. But someone in the grand house will stop at nothing to keep the long-buried secrets hidden. Will Edie be able to protect Christina? And will she find her own path to happiness with Charlie? Don't miss Jennie's the rest Families of Fairley Terrace series, which begins with Maggie's story in All The Dark Secrets and continues with Lucy's story in The Miner's Daughter, Edie's story in The Girl Below Stairs, Carina's story in The Widow's Promise and Laurel's story in The Sister's Secret. Plus look out for Jennie's page-turning standalones - The Stolen Child, A Mother's Sacrifice and The Smuggler's Girl - coming soon!

A Countess Below Stairs

Author: Eva Ibbotson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781435213180
Category : Countesses
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
After the Russian Revolution turns her world upside down, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as a servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family. Anna is overwhelmed by her new duties, and her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. To make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her, too. Anna finds it increasingly difficult to keep her secrets from unraveling; and then there's the small matter of Rupert's fiancée.

Death Below Stairs

Author: Jennifer Ashley
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399585516
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Book Description
Victorian class lines are crossed when cook Kat Holloway is drawn into a murder that reaches all the way to the throne. Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered. Intent on discovering who killed the helpless kitchen maid, Kat turns to the ever-capable Daniel McAdam, who is certainly much more than the charming delivery man he pretends to be. Along with the assistance of Lord Rankin’s unconventional sister-in-law and a mathematical genius, Kat and Daniel discover that the household murder was the barest tip of a plot rife with danger and treason—one that’s a threat to Queen Victoria herself.

The Girl on the Stairs

Author: Barry Ernest
Publisher: Barry Ernest
ISBN: 1460979370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Book Description
On November 22, 1963, a young Victoria Elizabeth Adams stood behind a fourth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. She watched as John Kennedy was murdered in the streets below. Then, with a co-worker in tow, she ran down the back stairs of the building in order to get outside and determine what had happened. At that precise moment, her life changed forever. Her actions posed serious problems for the Warren Commission, already grappling with its agenda of naming Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin. If Miss Adams was telling the truth, then she had descended those stairs at the same time Oswald would have been on them as he made his escape from the sixth floor sniper's nest. Yet Miss Adams saw no one. And even though the stairs were old, wooden, and creaky under any weight, she heard no one either. When Miss Adams was called to testify before a Commission attorney, she was quickly discredited, humiliated, and eventually branded a liar. Behind closed doors she pleaded with the government to conduct time tests of her actions if she was felt to have been inaccurate. She begged the government to question her co-workers, particularly the woman who had accompanied her down the stairs, if she was not believed. Instead, she was ignored. And so, knowing the truth of what she had done and now fearing for her life because of it, she went into hiding and became willing to die with that secret knowledge. Intrigued by what little was available about Miss Adams, the author went in search of her. It took him 35 years to eventually find this elusive witness. As his journey progressed, many questions arose about the assassination while others were put to rest. And in the end, the truth of what Miss Adams did was finally discovered. This is an important story, unique in this mess that continues to surround Kennedy's death. It is a story that has been buried for decades. It is an account the government did not want you to hear, and actually fabricated evidence in order to keep you from hearing it. Now, the truth can be told.

Beneath the Stairs

Author: Jennifer Fawcett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982177160
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
In this spine-tingling, atmospheric “nail-biter of a novel” (Shelf Awareness), a woman returns to her hometown after her childhood friend attempts suicide at an alleged haunted house—the same place where a traumatic incident shattered their lives twenty years ago. Few in sleepy Sumner’s Mills have stumbled across the Octagon House hidden deep in the woods. Even fewer are brave enough to trespass. A man had killed his wife and two young daughters there, a shocking, gruesome crime that the sleepy upstate New York town tried to bury. One summer night, an emboldened fourteen-year-old Clare and her best friend, Abby, ventured into the Octagon House. Clare came out, but a piece of Abby never did. Twenty years later, Clare receives word that Abby has attempted suicide at the Octagon House and now lies in a coma. With little to lose, Clare returns to her roots to uncover the darkness responsible for ruining their lives. A “spellbinding horror story, where the terror comes not from ghosts, but from the haunted places we find within ourselves” (Elizabeth Brundage, author of The Vanishing Point), Beneath the Stairs is perfect for fans of Jennifer McMahon, Simone St. James, and Chris Bohjalian.

The Girl on the Stairs

Author: Louise Welsh
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1848546491
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 423

Book Description
Jane Logan is a stranger to Berlin and she finds the city alive and echoing with the ghosts of its turbulent past. At six months pregnant, she's instructed by her partner Petra to rest and enjoy her new life in Germany. But while Petra is out at work, Jane begins to feel uneasy in their chic apartment. Screams reverberate through the walls, lights flicker in the derelict building that looms over the yard, a shadow passes on the stairs . . . Jane meets a neighbour's daughter, a girl whose life she tries to mend, but her involvement only further isolates her. Alone and haunted, Jane fears the worst . . . but the worst is yet to come. Louise Welsh, the acclaimed author of The Cutting Room, delivers another masterful suspense novel. The Girl on the Stairs is a powerful psychological thriller packed with twists and turns to keep you reading well into the night. Read it, or be left in the dark.

Servants' Hall

Author: Margaret Powell
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250029295
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
A collection of accounts about life in the servants' halls of England's great houses shares the true story of under-parlourmaid Rose, who after eloping with her employer's only son was swept up in a maelstrom of gossip.

The Maid's Tale

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 144473587X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Book Description
Praise for Lives of the Servants: ‘Reading this fascinating book is likely to unleash almost anyone’s Inner Bolshevik...!' Daily Mail ‘...a fascinating portrait of the drudgery and servility of a domestic's life.' The Age ‘...captures the subtleties of the English class system to an extraordinary degree.' Midstate Observer 'If the Brothers Grimm had ended Cinderella where she was being forced to clean the house by her stepsisters, they might have accidentally been writing Rose Plummer's biography. The maid's story makes for harsh, heartbreaking, fascinating reading.’ The Daily Telegraph, NZ Born in 1910, Rose Plummer grew up in an East End slum, where she and fought an unending battle with hunger and squalor. At the age of fifteen, Rose started work as a live-in maid, and despite the poverty of her childhood, nothing could have prepared her for the long hours, the backbreaking work and the harshness of a world in which servants were treated as if they were less than human. But however difficult life became, Rose found something to laugh about, and her remarkable spirit and gift for friendship shines through in her memories of a now-vanished world.

Scandal Above Stairs

Author: Jennifer Ashley
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399585532
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Death Below Stairs. A mystery of stolen antiquities has Kat Holloway setting aside her apron once again for the intrigues of the upper echelons of Victorian London. Priceless artwork has gone missing from the home of a wealthy baronet, and his wife stands to take the blame. When Kat's employer asks for help in clearing her friend's name, Kat trades her kitchen for the homes of Mayfair's wealthiest families. Soon antiques are disappearing not only from the extravagant households of connoisseurs and collectors, but from the illustrious British Museum. As the thefts increase in frequency, Kat calls upon her friend Daniel McAdam, who has already set himself up in a pawnshop on the Strand as a seedy receiver of stolen goods. When a man is murdered in the shop, Kat must use all of her wits to see that the thieves are caught and justice is done.