5 Books to Read If You Love Downton Abbey

Depending on where you live, the Downton Abbey movie will be out on 13 September or 20 September. (I may be sneakily seeing it on 12th, over a week before it premieres in Canada…) And like any dedicated Downton fan, I’m doing everything I can to get my fix before I go. Rewatching the show, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, and of course, reading. And I have a feeling many of you are doing the same. So, these are 5 books to read if you love Downton Abbey and are getting ready for the movie!

I’ve seen many of these Downton book lists, and I’ve read nearly all of the books on them. However, I have to say, I’ve really disliked a lot of them. I have included one fiction book here, but the rest are non-fiction- a lot of the historical fiction with a similar setting is really tropey. The non-fiction picks are really well-written and you still won’t be able to put them down. Grab a cup of tea, head to the library, and get ready to settle in with a good book. These are the 5 books to read if you love Downton Abbey!

5 Books to Read if You Love Downton Abbey

To Marry an English Lord: Or, How Anglomania Really Got Started, Gail MacCoil and Carol McD. Wallace

From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles–just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, the first of the Downton Abbey characters Julian Fellowes was inspired to create after reading To Marry An English Lord. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details–plus photographs, illustrations, quotes, and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette–To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible.

This is one of the best books for an introduction to the general world of Downton Abbey. After all, Julian Fellowes decided to create teh show after reading it. It is rather an encyclopedia of sorts, of the “dollar duchess” phenomenon. It covers many different topics, places, people, and events, to explain it all. Because it is in this format, it makes for easy ready. To Marry an English Lord is punchy and entertaining, and will really make you look at Cora in a new light. (As well as the Granthams…) While a lot of people seem to take issue with the format, I think that it lends itself well. Useful for anyone anywhere, as it looks at both the English and American sides of it!

What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age, Cecelia Tichi

Mark Twain called it the Gilded Age. Between 1870 and 1900, the United States’ population doubled, accompanied by an unparalleled industrial expansion, and an explosion of wealth unlike any the world had ever seen. America was the foremost nation of the world, and New York City was its beating heart. There, the richest and most influential–Thomas Edison, J. P. Morgan, Edith Wharton, the Vanderbilts, Andrew Carnegie, and more–became icons, whose comings and goings were breathlessly reported in the papers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. It was a time of abundance, but also bitter rivalries, in work and play. The Old Money titans found themselves besieged by a vanguard of New Money interlopers eager to gain entrée into their world of formal balls, debutante parties, opera boxes, sailing regattas, and summer gatherings at Newport. Into this morass of money and desire stepped Caroline Astor.

Mrs. Astor, an Old Money heiress of the first order, became convinced that she was uniquely qualified to uphold the manners and mores of Gilded Age America. Wherever she went, Mrs. Astor made her judgments, dictating proper behavior and demeanor, men’s and women’s codes of dress, acceptable patterns of speech and movements of the body, and what and when to eat and drink. The ladies and gentlemen of high society took note. “What would Mrs. Astor do?” became the question every social climber sought to answer. And an invitation to her annual ball was a golden ticket into the ranks of New York’s upper crust. This work serves as a guide to manners as well as an insight to Mrs. Astor’s personal diary and address book, showing everything from the perfect table setting to the array of outfits the elite wore at the time. Channeling the queen of the Gilded Age herself, Cecelia Tichi paints a portrait of New York’s social elite, from the schools to which they sent their children, to their lavish mansions and even their reactions to the political and personal scandals of the day.

This book is looking at America during the Gilded Age, rather than the UK. However, I loved reading this book in conjunction with Downton. Not only does it give you more insight into Cora and her family, it shows you that trends and fashion moved across the ocean. It also highlights what these women, like Cora, went through. To move from fashionable New York City where there is far more freedom and excitement, to English country houses with intricately set rules, it would have been quite a change. And although the US is known for its freedom, the rules are just as strenuous. (The big difference is that the right connections would help you in the US, whereas your birth would trump most everything in the UK.)

Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor, Rosina Harrison

In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. “She’s not a lady as you would understand a lady” was the butler’s ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.

For 35 years, from the parties thrown for royalty and trips across the globe, to the air raids during WWII, Rose was by Lady Astor’s side and behind the scenes, keeping everything running smoothly. In charge of everything from the clothes and furs to the baggage to the priceless diamond “sparklers,” Rose was closer to Lady Astor than anyone else. In her decades of service she received one 5 raise, but she traveled the world in style and retired with a lifetime’s worth of stories. Like Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, Rose is a captivating insight into the great wealth ‘upstairs’ and the endless work ‘downstairs’, but it is also the story of an unlikely decades-long friendship that grew between Her Ladyship and her spirited Yorkshire maid.

This book is a perfect tie in for the Downton Abbey movie! The movie is set in 1927, and this book opens in 1928- right into the privileged world of the Granthams. Lady Astor was an incredibly inspiring woman- she married an English viscount, but is best known for being the first female politician to sit in parliament at Westminster. (Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected, but chose not to take her seat. Nancy Astor is often wrongly given this credit, but she was the first woman to actually sit in Parliament.) What I love about this book is that it takes you through the interwar period and beyond. We all love the grand country house setting that we see at the beginning of Downton. However, I always wondered what happened to that lifestyle and those people as the wars occurred and the world progressed. Yes, we know it faded away, but how did that actually happen?

The Glitter and the Gold, Conseulo Vanderbilt Balsan

Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful, and heir to a vast fortune. She was also in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to marry an English Duke. She sailed to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home—Blenheim Palace. She was the real American heiress who lived long before Downton Abbey’s Lady Grantham arrived.
Mme. Balsan is an unsnobbish and amused observer of the intricate hierarchy both upstairs and downstairs and a revealing witness to the glittering balls, huge weekend parties, and major state occasions she attended or hosted chronicling her encounters with every important figure of the day—from Queen Victoria, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Tsar Nicholas and the young Winston Churchill.
This richly enjoyable memoir is a revealing portrait of a golden age now being celebrated every week behind the doors of Downton Abbey.

This is a real life Downton Abbey tail if there ever was one. Consuelo Vanderbilt was a dollar duchess, imported from the US with her money to prop up a failing family (and their country seat). Blenheim Palace is one of the grandest family houses in the UK, and has played a significant role in modern history. (Dior just happened to stage his first show in Britain at Blenheim…) Conseulo led a fascinating life, and reading about a pseudo-Cora gives you the best insight possible. I also loved reading this for all of the historical figures that pop up. Given that the Downton movie is centred around King George and Queen Mary visiting, it is a perfect choice!

Belgravia, Julian Fellowes

On the evening of 15 June 1815, the great and the good of British society have gathered in Brussels at what is to become one of the most tragic parties in history – the Duchess of Richmond’s ball. For this is the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, and many of the handsome young men attending the ball will find themselves, the very next day, on the battlefield.
For Sophia Trenchard, the young and beautiful daughter of Wellington’s chief supplier, this night will change everything. But it is only twenty-five years later, when the upwardly mobile Trenchards move into the fashionable new area of Belgravia, that the true repercussions of that moment will be felt. For in this new world, where the aristocracy rub shoulders with the emerging nouveau riche, there are those who would prefer the secrets of the past to remain buried…

Of course I had to include one of Julian Fellowes’ novels in a Downton Abbey list! He does have some that are set in the modern period but I really enjoyed Belgravia. It is a grand sweeping story in the same way as Downton. It is encompassing and there are heros and villians and love stories and everything you would expect. It was written as a serial (very uncommon nowadays), and it has a unique quality to it. And I would recommend that you read this now, as there will be a Belgravia show airing in 2020 from ITV. (Watching party, anyone?)

What books do you recommend for people who love Downton Abbey? And are you going to see the Downton Abbey movie? 

Cheers,
The Historian
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