Book description
Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth-century Britain
is the social history of the last century through the eyes of those who
served. From the butler, the footman, the maid and the cook of 1900 to
the au pairs, cleaners and childminders who took their place seventy
years later, a previously unheard class offers a fresh perspective on a
dramatic century. Here, the voices of servants and domestic staff,
largely ignored by history, are at last brought to life: their daily
household routines, attitudes towards their employers, and to each
other, throw into sharp and intimate relief the period of feverish
social change through which they lived.
Sweeping in its scope, extensively researched and brilliantly observed, Servants
is an original and fascinating portrait of twentieth-century Britain;
an authoritative history that will change and challenge the way we look
at society. Humane, perceptive and dispassionate, Servants
takes us more deeply and comprehensively than any previous account into
the real world of Upstairs Downstairs
Lucy Lethbridge has written for a number of publications and is also
the author of several children s books, one of which, Who Was Ada Lovelace?
, won the 2002 Blue Peter Award for non-fiction. She lives in London.
