Snobs



Earl Grey tea cookies!

Author: Julian Fellowes

Category: I was in the local library, happened to see this book, got intrigued, and picked it up.

My thoughts: OK, I was attracted to this book for two reasons: 1) Julian Fellowes is the creator of Downton Abbey, and I’ve been going through some definite Downton withdrawals and 2) my latent Anglophilia was recently brought to the surface because of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubiliee and needed some sort of expression. Having said that, I was a bit underwhelmed by this book. I thought it was OK, but not something I’ll read again.

An unnamed narrator who is an actor relates the story of Snobs. In this book, an upper-middle-class young woman, Edith Lavery, meets and marries Charles, Earl Broughton, and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield. However, Edith is initially bored with her aristocratic marriage and, when a period drama comes to film at Broughton, the family home, Edith decides to plunge into a tawdry affair with one of the actors, Simon. Lady Uckfield, Charles’s formidable mother, never warmed to Edith and saw her affair as typical behavior for those not “to the manor born.” Reading this book, I was reminded of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate (set in England’s upper class society) by Nancy Mitford, but I also thought about The Portrait of a Lady—the latter because Edith’s decisions are in stark contrast to those of Isabel Archer. Isabel realizes she’s married to a man far more evil than Charles Broughton, but she, Isabel, decides to stick it out and live with her decision.

There isn’t a character in Snobs that I really liked a lot. I was ambivalent about Edith, and she started to get on my nerves as the novel wore on, to be perfectly honest. I kept thinking, “Make a decision and stick with it, girl!” Lady Uckfield, snob though she may be, is probably the character I liked the most. I can see her growing up to be the Dowager Countess . In fact, Fellowes mentions Edwardian England—the era in which Downton Abbey is set—several times. I wonder if the idea of Downton occurred to Fellowes while writing this book. One thing I liked about Snobs is all the references to historical figures, from Nell Gwyn to Consuelo Vanderbilt (whose life was right out of an Edith Wharton novel. There were also some funny moments in Snobs, but, like I said, I don’t think this is one that I’ll revisit.

Reading this book, I got a strong craving for tea. But it’s pretty hot here in Memphis, and I don’t like to drink hot stuff in summer—unless it’s my morning coffee. However, I came across a recipe for Earl Grey tea cookies. Problem solved! They were quite good, and here’s the recipe.

Great passage: The party was on its last legs. A few of us had been invited to stay on for dinner and we were in that uncomfortable, if familiar, period when almost everyone who is not invited to remain has gone but there is always a couple who do not realise that they are delaying the launch of the next stage of the evening. Usually, the hostess weakens and says to the obdurate, ‘Do stay for something to eat if you’d like to.’ To the trained ear, this translates as, ‘Please go. We are hungry and you are not invited.’

Up next: The Age of Innocence (can’t get enough of Edith Wharton)