a little gold mine of detail

books:


	• Not in Front of the Servants: A True Portrait of English Upstairs/Downstairs Life Frank Dawes Taplinger Publishing Company, 1974 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 1 review
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a little gold mine of detail

This little book, republished in paper by the National Trust Classics, results from Dawes realizing that the personal tales of "in service" life was potentially being lost as the last generation died off, and he requested tales and accounts to be sent to him. He expected only a trickle, but was flooded with accounts, letters, diaries and records. The result is a surprisingly readable compendium of the horrors, trials, tribulations, minor joys and comforts, amusements, satisfactions and successes of the lives of servants. For some reason, I find this book really fascinating, particularly to read before bed after a long working day of my own. I suspect if there is such a thing as reincarnation, there's a tweeny, knees black and hands raw from scrubbing floors somewhere back in my past. I love this book because it does what few history books accomplish, it takes you back so completely into the past lives of the subjects, you feel like you are living it with them. For that, I highly recommend it. For all the faceless silent servants of the past, he's given them both a visage and a voice.

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