Further Details

Title: Below Stairs
Condition: New
EAN: 9780330535380
ISBN: 9780330535380
Publisher: Pan Books
Format: Paperback
Release Date: 04/03/2011
Item Height: 197mm
Item Length: 130mm
Item Width: 15mm
Item Weight: 162g
Author: Margaret Powell
Language: English
Subtitle: The Bestselling Memoirs of a 1920s Kitchen Maid
ISBN-10: 0330535382
Description:

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. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were.

Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation.

Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants, Below Stairs is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman, who, though her position was lowly, never stopped aiming high.

'Enormous gusto, salty humour, wisdom' Evening Standard

'Shrewd, unabashed, wickedly funny, a unique front-line report of her life's experiences' Jack De Manio, BBC

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