What I’m reading: The World of Downton Abbey
My most estimable husband surprised me last night by bringing home from The Denver Post book sale a copy of The World of Downton Abbey, the companion book to the Downton Abbey series, the second season of which we are all eagerly anticipating on PBS/Masterpiece.
If you’re not familiar with the series, it follows the fortunes of the Crawley family after the loss of the heir presumptive aboard the Titanic. A male relative is found to comply with the entail and to him will be awarded Downton Abbey upon the death of Lord Grantham. Lord Grantham (still in his prime) and his wife are understandably concerned about the prospects for their three daughters, the eldest of whom was presumed to be married to the heir who had been lost at sea.
The companion book is beautifully illustrated with full page photos and text describing both the authentic world of the second decade of the twentieth century and the filming of the series in the second decade of the present century. One of the most useful two-page spread shows the main cast — servants on the left (for the series equally examines above and below stairs) and the Crawleys on the right. The book also serves as a great tease for the second season, which is to premiere Jan. 8, 2012, on Masterpiece.
On the dust jacket, we can see several unfamiliar characters presumably new to season two and also familiar characters now clothed in uniform, for the first series ended at the outbreak of World War I with Lord Grantham receiving that telegram (reproduced in the book): “As of 7pm last night Great Britain is at war with Germany.”
Chapters include Family Life, Society, Change, Life in Service, Style, House to Estate, Romance, War and Behind the Scenes. The book is written by Jessica Fellowes (here’s a nice interview with her on EdwardianPromenade.com) with a foreword by Julian Fellowes, writer and creator of Downton Abbey. Truthfully, there’s probably little here that a Janeite/Sherlockian/PBS viewer doesn’t already know about this wonderful production. You’ve probably already seen all the video interviews with Mr. Fellowes and you already know the servants ironed the newspapers so Lord Grantham wouldn’t get his hands dirty, but I’m looking forward to reading this and shall shortly offer a full review.
From St. Martin’s Press, 303 pages for $29.99.
PS PBS/Masterpiece will be showing the first season on Sundays from Dec. 18 to Jan. 1. And you may want to visit EdwardianPromenade’s YouTube channel where I have found a number of Edwardian related videos.