Millions of television viewers tuned in to their PBS stations to watch the first season of "Downton Abbey." The popularity and critical acclaim brought millions more to join in for successive seasons of the mini-series to follow the wealthy, aristocratic Crawley family as they went from the privileged world of Victorian high society through the turbulence of World War I and World War II.
Garnering a host of nominations and awards in everything from costume to acting to set design, viewers who can't get enough can turn to Jessica Fellows' "The World of Downton Abbey" to learn more about the people, places and history of both the upper crust and servant classes featured in the mini-series.
The audiobook is narrated by Elizabeth McGovern, the actress who plays Lady Grantham in the Downton Abbey series. She joins forces with the author to provide more information about the Edwardian era in Britain, including family life, upper class manor houses, society, lives of the servant classes, historical events such as World War I and World War II and the enormous changes brought about over the years.
For those who were captivated by the lavish, authentic costumes of the series, the audiobook describes the making of the costumes and accessories. While Anglophiles will find insights into Edwardian and WWI societies, those interested in the American-British dynamics won't be disappointed. Fellowes goes into depth about the marriages of convenience between wealthy American heiresses and titled, sometimes financially faltering British equivalents and the ramifications of antiquated inheritance and peerage laws.
Jessica Fellows is the best-selling writer of a number of books based on the "Downton Abbey" PBS series. Fellowes is the niece of Lord Julian Fellowes, the Emmy-winning and Oscar-winning author of the Downton Abbey series. She has done extensive research on the background, the history, and the characters of the period as well as the house and locale as well.
"This is was an interesting companion to the addictive PBS series and provided some background to the characters as well as historical information regarding the time period. The accompanying photographs were nice, but I would like to have seen the true life figures more accurately identified."
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Kimbra (4 out of 5 stars)