Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era
    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era
    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era
    Ebook347 pages2 hours

    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era

    By Jessica Fellowes, Matthew Sturgis and Julian Fellowes

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Chronicles of Downtown Abbey: A New Era is a perfect gift book for fans of the Emmy Award-winning series and feature film, inviting readers inside the third season.

    The Great War has ended, but Downton Abbey is far from peaceful...

    "Americans can't get enough of Downton Abbey," said The Boston Globe. As Season 3 of the award-winning TV series opens, it is 1920 and Downton Abbey is waking up to a world changed forever by World War I. New characters arrive and new intrigues thrive as the old social order is challenged by new expectations.

    In this new era, different family members abound (including Cora's American mother, played by Shirley MacLaine) and changed dynamics need to be resolved: Which branch of the family tree will Lord Grantham's first grandchild belong to? What will become of the servants, both old and new?

    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, carefully pieced together at the heart and hearth of the ancestral home of the Crawleys, takes us deeper into the story of every important member of the Downton estate. This lavish, entirely new book from Jessica Fellowes focuses on each character individually, examining their motivations, their actions, and the inspirations behind them. An evocative combination of story, history, and behind-the-scenes drama, it will bring fans even closer to the secret, beating heart of the house.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateNov 13, 2012
    ISBN9781250027634
    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era
    Author

    Jessica Fellowes

    JESSICA FELLOWES is an author, journalist, and public speaker. She is the author of The Mitford Murders novels as well as the New York Times bestselling official companion books to the Downton Abbey TV series. Former deputy editor of Country Life, and columnist for the Mail on Sunday, she has written for the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The Lady. Jessica has spoken at events across the UK and US, and has made numerous appearances on radio and television. She lives in Oxfordshire with her family.

    Read more from Jessica Fellowes

    Related to The Chronicles of Downton Abbey

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Inspired by Victoria

      Aug 13, 2019

      I was fourteen when I purchased my very first Victoria magazine. As I turned each page, I was struck with the thought, this is me. I kept every issue and totally immersed myself in each feature, dreaming that one day I would live in the neighborhood

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Boleyns

      Jul 18, 2019

      The Boleyns
      11 min read

    • Article

      Dazzling Duchess

      May 5, 2020

      Dazzling Duchess
      3 min read

    • Article

      When You Know, You Know

      May 19, 2021

      When You Know, You Know
      4 min read

    • Article

      Steeped in Tradition

      Mar 21, 2023

      Steeped in Tradition
      5 min read

    • Article

      Kate Middleton Can’t Vote, And Other Everyday Things She’s Not Allowed To Do

      Mar 23, 2021

      In the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired in the UK on Monday, Meghan Markle described how her mental health suffered while living in the palace. “There was very little that I was allowed to do,” she claimed, say

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Country House weekend

      Aug 13, 2020

      A Country House weekend
      6 min read

    • Article

      Olivia De Havilland Dies At 104, Starred In 'Gone With The Wind'

      Jul 26, 2020

      Olivia de Havilland, the last remaining star from the 1939 epic film "Gone With the Wind" and a two-time Academy Award winner who for decades was seen as the essence of Hollywood royalty, has died at her residence in Paris. She was 104. De Havilland,

      7 min read

    • Article

      Hopeful Expressions for a New Year

      Nov 23, 2021

      It wasn’t until a few months ago that I decided to tackle the fast-approaching New Year from a different angle: being kinder to myself. Recently, I compiled a vision board with multiple words and phrases that serve as my goals. It was worthwhile flip

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Richest Girl In The World

      Aug 12, 2020

      The Richest Girl In The World
      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Feb 27, 2024

      Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST WIN an AncestryDNA test kit from ancestry.co.uk WORTH £79 The writer of our star letter wins an AncestryDNA test worth £79 – so drop us a line and share your

      6 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Sep 30, 2022

      I’m a single mother who struggles financially to get through each month. When my washing machine broke I had no funds to repair it, so I asked my neighbours if I could do my washing at their place. On a Wednesday afternoon my bell rang. At the door w

      5 min read

    • Article

      Letterbocks

      Apr 14, 2022

      letters@viz.co.uk □ “OUR HOUSE, in the middle of the street,” sang popular North London ska band Madness in the eighties. But I can’t imagine they were particularly popular with local residents if they had a house blocking the middle of the road. If

      9 min read

    • Article

      A Bloody Grand Finale

      Apr 13, 2023

      A Bloody Grand Finale
      4 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Editor

      Feb 11, 2021

      Letter From The Editor
      3 min read

    • Article

      G’day – And Goodbye

      Aug 25, 2021

      G’day – And Goodbye
      4 min read

    • Article

      My Queer Southern Lit

      Nov 28, 2018

      My Queer Southern Lit
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Got 99 Problems

      Nov 4, 2020

      I have never been in a serious relationship and my whole family is convinced I’m secretly gay. I’d happily tell them if I were, but I’m content on my own. How can I make them understand? A. S., North Yorkshire No problem here, that I can detect. Tr

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Chronicles of Downton Abbey

    4/5

    64 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Again, great reading for Downton Abbey fans, of whom there are legions. This will help bridge the gap between seasons.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting time period. I love the PBS show. I love reading about the contrasts and differences between the up-stairs and down-stars lives. Lots of cool pictures. Would reccomend to my friends.

    Book preview

    The Chronicles of Downton Abbey - Jessica Fellowes

    THE EARL & COUNTESS

    OF GRANTHAM

    For a large household, organisation was vitally important, and this was certainly

    true at Downton Abbey. Lady Grantham would be responsible for the working

    out of the daily round, in consultation with Carson, as butler, and Mrs Hughes,

    as housekeeper. Once agreed, the schedule for the week would then be

    written up and displayed in the servants’ hall.

    Robert It’s not so good for you.

    Cora Don’t worry about me. I’m an

    American. Have gun, will travel.

    Robert Thank God for you, anyway.

    Lord Grantham – Robert – has many good qualities: he is kind, loyal to his family, loving to his wife, adoring of his daughters, a fair employer and generous to those around him. But, for him, all these things are peripheral in the face of his most important role in life – as the 7th Earl of Grantham. As he sees it, he has been put on this earth with one prime objective: to keep Downton Abbey in its proper state and hand it over in this condition to his heir. Yet the gods appear to be against him in this enterprise: the American heiress he married to safeguard the future of the estate failed to produce the required son and heir; the next in line (a first cousin) was lost on the Titanic , leaving a distant, unknown, middle-class relative – Matthew Crawley – as heir. A brutal war undermined Robert’s certainties and prosperity, and now, in the post-war years, he has lost the family fortune in an unwise business venture and faces an uncertain financial future.

    Shattered by this recent sequence of events, the mere mention of hiring a new footman is enough to rattle him. Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, explains: ‘His purpose is to preserve the estate and hand it on to the next generation. So whenever anything occurs that threatens him and this idea, it sets him off kilter.’ For someone as well-meaning as Robert, this situation seems terribly unjust.

    It’s not all bad. The American heiress he married was, of course, Cora – a woman of resilience and unfailing supportiveness. Where Robert is emotionally insecure, she is sure of herself and undaunted by the difficulties they could face. His daughters may not be able to inherit Downton, but his eldest has done the next best thing and become engaged – at last – to the man who will. And that man, Matthew, is someone who Robert has grown to love as a son.

    If anything gives Robert an advantage in these shifting times, it is probably his marriage to Cora. Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora, the Countess of Grantham, says of her character: ‘She finds it much easier to assimilate change than Robert, although whether that is because she is an American or because of her character is debatable. But it is this readiness that places her in the middle between her children and the older generation.’

    Cora draws Robert into his role as a parent and reminds him that he should mind less about tradition and reputation and more about the happiness of his children. ‘Cora is much more able to see Branson as a young man, rather than as a chauffeur,’ says McGovern. As a mother, she has a role in life, no matter what else is going on, but being Robert’s wife is also very important to her. Cora recognises both her position as countess and the responsibilities that it entails, but also her husband’s need for her emotional support. That said, her determination to get stuck into the war effort did mean that she withdrew from her marriage for a time, leaving Robert feeling isolated.

    Robert Sometimes I feel like a creature

    in the wilds, whose natural habitat is

    gradually being destroyed.

    Furthermore, much of what Robert sees around him, and particularly what he reads about in the newspapers, can only serve to underline his fears that he is becoming an outmoded, defunct element of society. As Britain began to recover its senses after the war, it became clear there was no hope of returning to the way things had been in 1914. In 1920 Devonshire House, one of the most famed palaces on Piccadilly (the venue for a party for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897), was sold by the Duke of Devonshire to a financier. The Duke had been crippled by the debts of his predecessor and the first death duties his family had had to pay, which amounted to around half a million pounds. (The house was later demolished and only the wine cellar and gates remain – the latter form the entrance to Green Park.) The sale of the house marked the end of an era. For Robert it would have been a vivid sign that even the grandest, richest families were not immune to the stringent financial pressures of the post-war

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1