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Habits of the House
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
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Publisher's summary
From the award-winning novelist and writer of Upstairs Downstairs, the launch of a brilliant new trilogy about what life was really like for masters and servants before the world of Downton Abbey
As the Season of 1899 comes to an end, the world is poised on the brink of profound, irrevocable change. The Earl of Dilberne is facing serious financial concerns. The ripple effects spread to everyone in the household: Lord Robert, who has gambled unwisely on the stock market and seeks a place in the Cabinet; his unmarried children, Arthur, who keeps a courtesan, and Rosina, who keeps a parrot in her bedroom; Lord Robert's wife Isobel, who orders the affairs of the household in Belgrave Square; and Grace, the lady's maid who orders the life of her mistress.
Lord Robert can see no financial relief to an already mortgaged estate, and, though the Season is over, his thoughts turn to securing a suitable wife (and dowry) for his son. The arrival on the London scene of Minnie, a beautiful Chicago heiress with a reputation to mend, seems the answer to all their prayers.
As the writer of the pilot episode of the original Upstairs, Downstairs—Fay Weldon brings a deserved reputation for magnificent storytelling. With wit and sympathy—and no small measure of mischief—Habits of the House plots the interplay of restraint and desire, manners and morals, reason and instinct.
Critic reviews
“With a tony accent and wry humor, Katherine Kellgren narrates this story of an upper-class family on the verge of losing the life its members have always known…Written by the author of ‘Upstairs Downstairs,' Habits of the House will delight fans of ‘Downton Abbey' and those who enjoy dry wit coupled with excellent narration.” —AudioFile Magazine
“Narrator Katherine Kellgren creates an amazing variety of voices for the numerous characters both British and American…Kellgren captures the subtle humor and the satire in author Fay Weldon's writing.” —Sound Commentary
“Narrator Kellgren creates distinct voices for all involved: servants, aristocracy and wealthy, title-seeing Americans.” —The Plain Dealer
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Overall
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In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.
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AWFUL!! I was very disappointed.
- By The Louligan on 08-12-13
By: Rosina Harrison
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Vanity Fair
- By: William Makepeace Thackeray
- Narrated by: John Castle
- Length: 31 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Set during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this classic gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The novel revolves around the exploits of the impoverished but beautiful and devious Becky Sharp who craves wealth and a position in society. Calculating and determined to succeed, she charms, deceives and manipulates everyone she meets. A novel of early 19th-century English society, it takes its title from the place designated as the centre of human corruption in John Bunyan's 17th-century allegory.
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The Best Narration, One of the Greats
- By James Abraham on 05-18-13
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The Rise of Silas Lapham
- By: William Dean Howells
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Howells’ best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners. After garnering a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position. The consequences of this endeavor are both humorous and tragic as the greedy Silas brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy.
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Important for the Era
- By Brent on 03-19-23
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The First Rebellion
- The Waverly Women, Book 1
- By: Marion Chesney
- Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Earl of Tredair has had his fill of balls, routs, and silly misses, and he despairs of finding someone extraordinary - that is, until he meets Miss Fanny Waverley. Most unique and intriguing, Fanny and her two sisters are the adopted daughters of the reclusive bluestocking Madame Waverley. They have been raised as her disciples to spread the word of women's rights and to encourage poor oppressed females to stand up against the iniquities of the male sex. The beautiful and farouche Miss Fanny, however, finds it quite difficult to think of all men as cruel and lustful beasts....
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Not up to Chesney's Usual Standards
- By Nancy J on 07-29-14
By: Marion Chesney
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Upstairs & Downstairs
- My Life In Service as a Lady's Maid
- By: Hilda Newman, Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War.
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Wonderful listen!!
- By J.T. on 09-25-19
By: Hilda Newman, and others
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My Lady Ludlow
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Susannah York
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Lady Ludlow's appalling snobbery, prejudice and bred-in-the-bone conviction as to the superiority of the English aristocracy and their feudal way of life are deliciously tested, and found wanting, in this gently radical tale of the collapse of a social system. Elizabeth Gaskell's My Lady Ludlow is a brilliant picture of the shift in power in a rural northern village, from the velvety feudal Ludlows to the glitter of the new money rattling through the system courtesy of the brazen baker from Birmingham.
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A treat
- By Tad Davis on 03-04-20
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Mr. Darcy's Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Aston
- Narrated by: Morag Sims
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Picking up 20 years after Pride and Prejudice left off, Mr. Darcy's Daughters begins in the year 1818. Elizabeth and Darcy have gone to Constantinople, giving us an opportunity to get to know their five daughters, who have left the sheltered surroundings of Pemberley for a few months in London.
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soooo much drama!
- By Kindle Customer on 09-12-20
By: Elizabeth Aston
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Devoted to the Duke
- The St. Clairs, Book 1
- By: Alexa Aston, Dragonblade Publishing
- Narrated by: Price Waldman
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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After returning to London from his Grand Tour, serious-minded Jeremy St. Clair, the Marquess of Sather, attends a ball and meets a luminescent beauty who draws him out of his shell. They share a searing kiss - her first - and though he never planned to wed, Jeremy desires to make this young woman his. But his life takes an unexpected turn when he leaves her that night.
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EXCELLANT NARRATION!!
- By Edwina "I Love books" on 11-09-19
By: Alexa Aston, and others
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Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.
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It's not about the ending!
- By Sandra on 07-25-05
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The Way We Live Now
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Timothy West
- Length: 32 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this world of bribes, vendettas, and swindling, in which heiresses are gambled and won, Trollope's characters embody all the vices: Lady Carbury is 'false from head to foot'; her son Felix has 'the instincts of a horse, not approaching the higher sympathies of a dog'; and Melmotte - the colossal figure who dominates the book - is a 'horrid, big, rich scoundrel...a bloated swindler...a vile city ruffian'. But as vile as he is, he is considered one of Trollope's greatest creations.
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Finally!
- By Laurene on 06-05-10
By: Anthony Trollope
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Nobody's Sweetheart Now
- By: Maggie Robinson
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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England, 1924. Lady Adelaide Compton has recently (and satisfactorily) interred her husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, hero of the Somme, in the family vault in the village churchyard. Rupert died by smashing his Hispano-Suiza on a Cotswold country road while carrying a French mademoiselle in the passenger seat. With the house now Addie's, needed improvements in hand, and a weekend house party underway, how inconvenient of Rupert to turn up - not in the flesh, but as a spirit! Rupert has to perform a few good deeds before becoming welcomed to heaven.
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Fresh New Voice For Me..Very Good
- By John on 08-06-20
By: Maggie Robinson