My June reads

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Lucy Lethbridge - Servants 4,5/5
The subtitle of this book is 'A downstairs view of twentieth-century history' and that exactly describes what this book entails: to describe the 20th century history of domestic service. From the Edwardian heyday of big houses with 60 indoor staff to the post-War struggle to get anyone to work in service at all.

This was a very readable book about a very interesting subject in my opinion. It was filled with both stories right from the servants themselves and science into the phenomenon to connect all these stories. I would have given it 5 stars, but I sometimes found the narrative a bit messy, jumping from subject to subject and introducing lots of people. But all in all, very much recommended for fans of Downton Abbey or those interested in social history.

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