Synopses & Reviews
From the vast staff running a lavish Edwardian estate to the lonely maid-of-all-work cooking in a cramped middle-class house, domestics were an essential part of the British hierarchy for much of the past century. Servants were hired not only for their skills but also to demonstrate the social standing of their employers, even as they were required to tread softly and blend into the background. But how did these countless men and women live? How did they view their employers and one another? And how did they experience the rapid social change of the twentieth century? In this “best type of history” (Literary Review), Lucy Lethbridge brings to life the butlers and lady’s maids, the nannies and cleaners whose voices have been largely ignored by history. Drawing fascinating observations from a kaleidoscope of research, she delivers a discerning portrait of life in service from the Edwardian period to the 1970s and a new view of English society.
Review
"Absorbing history, much of it in the words of servants...[Lethbridge's] subject is many-branched and full of pressing issues." Economist
Review
"Scholarly, thorough and vastly entertaining… [Lethbridge’s] style is elegant, detached and slyly witty and her canvas sprawling and immense…. Richly complex and enjoyable." Financial Times
Review
"Beautifully written, sparkling with insight, and a pleasure to read, Servants is social history at its most humane and perceptive…. In broad terms the world Lethbridge describes is a familiar one, but she nails it all down with the kind of detail that still has the power to astonish, outrage or amuse…. Lethbridge is a dispassionate observer, immune to nostalgia and visions of benign paternalism." Times Literary Supplement
Review
"In this excellent addition to the history of domestic service in the 20th century, Lucy Lethbridge has swept the existing archive and added new sources of her own. The result is a richly textured account of what it felt like to spend the decades of high modernity on your knees with a dustpan and brush." Guardian (UK)
Review
"As a panorama, Servants is a great success. Enthusiasts of bonnets and waistcoasts will find Upstairs Downstairs or Downton Abbey all the more enjoyable after reading this nuanced and elegantly written account of the wider context. And in tracing the history of servants throughout the whole of the 20th century, Lethbridge offers a new vantage point from which to reassess British social history." Observer (UK)
Review
"Thorough and vastly entertaining...[Lethbridge's] style is elegant, detached and slyly witty...Richly complex and enjoyable." Sue Gaisford
Synopsis
The vividly told lives of British servants and the upper crust they served.
Synopsis
From the immense staff running a lavish Edwardian estate and the lonely maid-of-all-work cooking in a cramped middle-class house to the poor child doing chores in a slightly less poor household, servants were essential to the British way of life. They were hired not only for their skills but also to demonstrate the social standing of their employers--even as they were required to tread softly and blend into the background. More than simply the laboring class serving the upper crust--as popular culture would have us believe--they were a diverse group that shaped and witnessed major changes in the modern home, family, and social order.
About the Author
Lucy Lethbridge has written numerous books, as well as writing articles for the Observer, the Sunday Telegraph, the Independent on Sunday, the Times Literary Supplement, Art News, and Art+Auction. She lives in London.