Written by Julian Fellows
Published 2005
Creator of the popular series Downton Abbey Julian Fellows’ novel follows the similar theme of the division of social classes. This is a story about Edith Lavery, an attractive young woman who marries the Earl of Broughtonand. The Earl lives among the highest of the British social classes and is wealthy, owning many estates. Edith marries the Earl for his social status and despite his unwavering love for her (he thanks her for every sexual encounter) Edith quickly becomes bored living the high life. Edith questions what she should do with her marriage and life, and soon finds herself walking away from her marriage to be with a handsome struggling actor. After leaving her husband hurt and depressed and destroying his families reputation Edith begins to realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Fellows has a wonderful way of pulling the reader into the characters and the story. The narration is from the perspective of Morant an actor/friend of Edith. This provides an interesting and unusual view of the flow of the plot and development of the characters. I would highly recommend this novel to any readers that are fans of British society or the Downton Abbey series.
“Great grief can be worn charmingly by a beauty and I have seen a lot of gracious dignity at funerals in my time but is my experience that when grief is becoming it is also suspect. Real unhappiness is ugly and wounding and scarring to the soul.”
Appeal Notes (May contain spoilers):
Genre: Humorous stories; Satirical fiction
Pacing: Leisurely
Character: Told from the perspective of Morant the story follows Edith, the Earl and his mother along with many side characters that are family and friends. Character driven.
Location: England
Storyline: Character driven
Tone: Satirical
Comments: There was a great attention to detail in the beginning of the story that was interesting,but prevented me from really getting into the book. By the end I was much happier with the flow of the writing and the story.
