Habits of the House: A Novel
Written by Fay Weldon
Narrated by Katherine Kellgren
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
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.
Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon is a novelist, screenwriter and cultural journalist. Her novels include ‘The Life and Loves of a She-Devil’, ‘Puffball’, ‘Big Women’ and ‘Rhode Island Blues’. She has also published her autobiography ‘Auto da Fay’. Her most recent novel was the critically acclaimed ‘She May Not Leave’. She lives in Dorset.
Related to Habits of the House
Titles in the series (3)
Habits of the House: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Long Live the King: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The New Countess: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Habits of the House
9 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever since reading (and watching the TV series) ‘The Forsyte Saga’ in my teens I’ve had a passion for late Victorian/Edwardian British stories. I was very excited to receive a copy of ‘Habits of the House’ set in 1899. The story revolves around the household of the Earl of Dilberne. He himself is deeply in debt, from both business ventures gone badly and from trying to keep up with his friend, the spendthrift Price of Wales; his wife, Isobel, daughter of a tradesman who brought money to the marriage, spends on clothing and dinners. His daughter, Rosina, spends her time going to lectures of the leftist kind and despises the moneyed class while enjoying the advantages it offers. His son and heir Arthur cares nothing for business or politics, freely spending on clothing, his mistress, and his steam powered automobiles. When the latest venture, a gold mine in Africa, is taken and flooded by the Boers, bankruptcy looms. The earl and his lady’s reaction to this is that their children (in their 20s) must marry for money. Everyone has their own opinion on how this should be accomplished, including the staff of servants who have a surprising influence on the lives of their employers. What follows is a tangled web of greed, bigotry, and lies. There are no blameless characters here, but neither are there any monsters. These are all just flawed human beings, most of whom are fairly decent at heart. They are muddling through their lives, regretting their pasts, and trying to puzzle out what kind of future the want. These are not particularly deep characters; they are rather sketchy. I enjoyed the book. Despite the unusual layout – a lot of very short chapters, each devoted to a character’s actions in a short period of time- sometimes as little as an hour- it reads fast. The entire book takes place over the span of a little less than two months- but the first 86 pages is devoted to a single day. At the beginning I did have trouble at times figuring out which character was which. There is enough description to set the reader firmly in the era. Standing outside of the time, the author skewers the manners and prejudices of the time. Is it great literature? No. Is it good enough that I’ll be seeking out the next two volumes? Yes.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I received this book as part of the GoodReads FirstReads program and it was one that I was fairly giddy to have won. As a fan of historical fiction generally and "Upstairs Downstairs" specifically I was more than ready to enjoy this one.On the good side the book gives us a wonderfully open portrayal of the behavior of the landed class at the time. No secret is too dark, no behavior too perverse to be placed on display. We're introduced to some of the notable personages of the time and the scene is littered with tidbits of historical amusement from the Boer Wars to steam powered autos. Weldon also treats us to a myriad of period vernacular that causes us Midwestern types to scramble for our dictionaries. If nothing else it's worth reading just for the language. Organizationally the book's short (almost tiny) chapters are each date-headed and titled helping the reader keep track of a sometimes tangled chronology. This is the sort of book you can take in small bites if you need to and come back without losing much of the thread of the narrative.On the other side, there's just not quite as much story as one would expect from a period piece. Readers who anticipate a Classical level of detail from this novel are bound to be disappointed. It is a novel very much boiled down to its nucleus, a traveling sideshow rather than a museum piece. Additionally, while our author uses some amusing bits of language they do at times seem forced and inconsistently timed. Her characters whip out a colorful phrase about every 20 pages and then revert to current standard English until it is once again time to find an appropriate period idiom to insert. As the current vernacular so aptly puts it, "go big or go home"; if your characters drawl along in Cockney rhyming slang in chapter 1 then they'd best do so for the duration lest purists like me complain about it in online reviews.To summarize, Weldon's novel is a cute period piece but it's a period piece written for the masses. Bibliophiles who have come to this novel as a modern break from perusing Austen would be advised to understand that this is a novel written for an audience less accustomed to the complexities of Classical literature. Readers are also advised to take a page of notes on the dramatis personae as they are introduced. Personally I had some difficulty sorting out the rather homogeneous nomenclature of the various characters involved.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This was disappointing. I think the author is inviting us to join her in sneering at the stupidity, self-centeredness and weakness of all the characters, upstairs and downstairs. Unfortunately, unless a book compensates for this with some wit and/or some kind of a moral center, it is doomed to be unsatisfying. An opportunity wasted.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fay Weldon's writing is always intelligent, witty and funny, and this novel has very good moments. But I agree with the previous reviewers who said that it's a minor work. I'd rather re-read one of Weldon's classic books, such as "Down Among the Women," than the planned sequels to this one.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Downton Crabby:Crabby is definitely how I felt trying to slog through this pastiche of a late Victorian/Edwardian class drama. The premise sounded entertaining - another Downton Abbey/Upstairs Downstairs society novel, the drama of the season, a marriage of convenience, the lives of the staff supporting the drama above-stairs. What's not to like?Everything, really.I was put off within a few pages. The characters, both upstairs and downstairs, are obnoxious and unlikeable. The descriptions of the unclothed bodies of both adult children in the earliest chapters and the sexual advances between maid and master were jarring to someone expecting an authentic period drama in Victorian style. It reads like Henry James fan fiction! Though this is touted as 'the thing' for people craving a class drama fix while waiting for season 4 of DA, it misses the essence of what DA is: a gentle, satisfying melodrama with LIKABLE characters. Fay Weldon's creations fail to evoke anything other than disdain or mild revulsion in the reader, at least in my experience with this novel. I didn't care if the family survived, I didn't care about the marriage prospects of Arthur or Rosina, and I didn't care about their parents. The downstairs staff was wooden and uninteresting as well. After forcing myself through half of this book, I finally threw up my hands and admitted defeat. And then read some Henry James.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Earl of Dilberne is in desperate need of cash to save his estate from his gambling debts and bad investments. He and his wife Isobel, decide the best way to raise money is to marry off their son Arthur to a rich woman. They find Minnie, an American from a prominent Chicago slaughterhouse family who despite her rough background and scandalous past, is witty, smart and refined. She and Arthur hit it off, although Arthur remains attached to his paid "mistress." This book, by the creator of Upstairs, Downstairs, is obviously aimed squarely at the Dowton Abbey crowd. It's a lightning-fast read and a lot of fun, although not nearly as meaty as the series we all love. Also, the tone is much more jaundiced and a great deal bawdier. So, Downton Abbey it's not, but it stands on its own as a good read.