Did you all see the Downton Abbey skit on Saturday Night Live this weekend? It was soooo funny.

Anyway, this week I’m on pins and needles to find out who that guy with all the bandages is that Lord Grantham doesn’t recognize! Is it the cousin Mary was engaged to and the heir of Downton? A relative of Lady Grantham’s? Is it the English Patient? Questions!

Mary’s rolling Matthew across the lawn in a wheel chair. That looks like hard work, just imagine how easy it is for those wheels to get stuck in the mud. She’s going at it like a champ, though. Meanwhile, Sir Richard is playing the “Don’t you want grandchildren?” card to Lady Grantham. Don’t you have two other daughters, Lady Grantham? Seriously. Meanwhile, army/doctor guy informs us that some Canadian named Gordon wants to convalesce at Downton Hospital. Okie dokie! That must be the English Patient.

Bates and Anna are making plans to move into their own place in front of O’Brien and Thomas. If the house is a rockin’ don’t come a knockin’! Don’t you two know not to make plans in front of O’Brien and Thomas? If you do, they won’t come true.

Meanwhiles, with the war about to end, people are wondering what to do with all the soldiers. Lady Grantham is looking forward to having her house to herself again, but Isobel wants to keep it open as a hospital. This woman needs a hobby, or maybe she should open turn her own damn house into a convalesce home. Lady Violet is equally annoyed, but hatches a plan to distract Isobel from Downton and keep her out of everyone’s hair.

Back at Downton Hospital, Edith has caught sight of the Canadian Patient. This is awesome. She’s going to fall in love with him and move to Canada! They’re related, and we all know these Grantham sisters like to kiss their cousins. He sounds Canadian *now*? They’ve met before? This guy’s mysterious.

Joshua Reynolds portrait on the stairs!

Lord Grantham has to serve himself. What inconvenience. Whenever I’m eating, I’m like, “Where’s my butler, yo?” so I can sympathize. Don’t worry, though, he has a maid to carry food to him so he doesn’t have to get up. Lord Grantham asks the new maid about her family and she gets awfully chatty. He’s going to put in a good word for her son–what a sweetie.

Bandaged guy is Patrick Crawley. Yes, the one who was the heir to Downton and died on the Titanic. Ahahaha. Did I call that one or did I call that one? Why does he have a Canadian accent? I’m confused, and so is Edith, who is the only person he’s confessed his true identity to so far. He says he lost his memory and they told him he was Canadian, so he just moved right on up to Canada and took his name from a bottle of gin! How romantic. It was only after he was injured at war that he remembered who he was.

Wah-wah, it turns out that Vampy Vera told the judge Bates paid her off to divorce him. That means the divorce won’t go through. I thought divorce by definition was where you paid someone off to leave you alone? Anna tries to rally, but O’Brien is listening. That’s never good!

Mary is back at Downton and telling Matthew about her future home. It was awfully echoey. And white, like a tomb. She sounds way excited about it–not. She tells Matthew, “I don’t have to marry him, you know.” Beg much? Matthew’s like, “Yeah you do, and if you don’t, stay the hell away from me.” Hey, Matthew, tone down the dickishness.

Now it’s time to catch up with Branson and Sybil. Remember last week when Sybil was all, “Stay away from me,” even though she’s the one who keeps coming to the garage? YEAH. This week she drops by on some sort of pretense about engines, and Branson offers to teach her allllll about them. I bet. Vroom vroom. Subject change (or maybe I was just thinking about engines), Sybil asks Branson to wait for her until after the war, if he can. Branson’s like, “Yeah! Okay! I’m cool with that!” Dignity, Branson, remember your dignity.

Lord Grantham is wearing his “informal” suit. Hahahahaha. It looks exactly the same as all the other suits he has? I guess the point is he’s not wearing a uniform for once this season.

Sir Richard is offering Carson a job, probs because Lady Mary can’t be without her favorite servant. Who knew Lady Mary bothered to discuss servants with Sir Richard. Carson’s not opposed to the idea, but wants Lady Mary to ask him, not Richard. Then he tells Lady Mary he needs to know what Lord Grantham thinks. Methinks he wants to go to this house as much as Lady Mary does, which is not at all. When Mary asks Lord Grantham about it, he’s all like, “There is nothing more ill-bred than to steal other people’s servants.” I didn’t know that! But what will Downton be like without Carson? Sadface! Looks like he’s going, though. Someone stop this wedding, plz. Looking at you, Matthew.

Edith finally tells her dad about the Canadian Patient, and Grantham feels the need to confront “Patrick.” He’s a little touchy with the bandaged guy. I think Patrick should have written before he showed up. Well, at least he can have kids, right? Since this is a Big Issue, Lord Grantham breaks the news to the rest of the family–sans Canadian Patient–that Patrick, former heir to Downton, is alive. Poor Matthew. How will he be a lawyer now that he’s in a wheelchair? Mary is PISSED. I think she was a bit relieved Patrick died, no? Or maybe she just doesn’t want to be burdened with another bachelor to choose from. Matthew descends into a shame spiral since even the Canadian Patient can do the dirty dance, and the conversation is over.

Meanwhile, that pesky baby of Ethel’s! Does it even have a name? Carson and Mrs Hughes decide to finally tell Lady Grantham about it. She’s willing to help by searching out for the major and bringing pressure on him to marry Ethel, even though it’s Ethel’s own fault. Letter time! It turns out the Major who sired Ethel’s baby died in the war. So no money from that quarter, I guess. Ethel wonders what “we” are going to do. What’s this we, Kemosabe? Ethel’s depressed. I’d be depressed too. But then I wouldn’t have had sex with that bastard major.

The new maid is crushing on Grantham.

It’s weird that the Canadian Patient sounds like a Canadian. It makes NO SENSE. If he got the Canadian accent after he lost his memory, why didn’t his English accent come back once his memory returned? But on the other hand, if you were trying to take over a dead guy’s inheritance, wouldn’t you also try to fake his accent, at least? Also, I also can’t figure out why the Canadian Patient’s just kind of hanging out in Downton, as if he doesn’t know where to go or is afraid of confronting the family. If he does have his memory back, he should have marched right into Lord Grantham’s library and been like, “Heya, buddy!” (but in an English way, of course). Edith, meanwhile, is not asking these questions. She is the perfect mark, for realz–she WANTS Patrick to be alive and isn’t inclined to question it.

Yay, the war is over! Oh happy day! “Why can’t the cease-fire begin now?” Good question. How horrible would it be to be killed in between the time where they decided to end the war and the official cease-fire?

Isobel has decided to help the refugees that Lady Violent conveniently arranged for her. Hooray! Violet and Cora are incandescent with glee and trying not to giggle. Poor Isobel, fleeced by the Grantham women again.

Oh dear, the Canadian Patient is showing a streak of temper. I don’t think he’s the best heir for Downton. But Edith can’t resist his wide, blinking eyes. Evidence suggests he could be Patrick, but he could also be one of Patrick’s friends who was from Montreal. Mary is completely against him being Patrick, but Lord Grantham doesn’t know what to think. Edith’s new plan is to find this friend to prove that the Canadian Patient is not him.

Bates went to London to have it out with Vera–or “reason” with her, as he put it, but we all know she’s not reasonable. He comes back–I guess later that night?–having walked from the train station. THAT’S NOT A GOOD SIGN. His meeting with Vera was “worse than you can possibly imagine,” and it looks like he got slapped. To repeat: She. SLAPPED. Bates. The woman is pure evil. How on earth did those two wind up together? O’Brien observes it all from a distance with her shark-like eyes.

Thanks to collusion from Sir Richard and Lady Grantham, Lavinia has returned to Downton, with the idea that she’ll separate Matthew and Mary (as if Matthew wasn’t doing a good enough job of that on his own). First thought: what were Lavinia and Sir Richard getting up to while that car was “stuck in the mud,” eh? I don’t trust her. She has horrible fashion sense and she’s a spineless idiot. This woman is going to be the next Lady Grantham? NO. Where on earth did Matthew find her?

Lord Grantham, meanwhile, wasn’t let onto this meddling with Mary and Matthew’s romance, and does not approve. Grantham has better instincts than his wife does–now Sir Richard is threatening Lady Mary. He likes to control things, apparently. He’ll be fun to live with. Wake up, Mary!

Meanwhile, the Canadian Patient left in the middle of night. Actually morning, but Edith wasn’t up yet. He decided “It was too difficult.” Well, I guess that puts an end to that.

Ceremonial end to the war! Kind of a weird thing to do, but I guess it works. Are you relieved? I’m relieved. Matthew is much more with the frowny face now. But then… MATTHEW FELT SOMETHING! HE CAN WALK!!!! I knewwwww it. You can’t keep a good man down. And Lavinia’s such a bitch for letting someone else roll Matthew through Downton. Lady Mary wouldn’t just roll him through the house, but along a sandy beach as well.

*GASP!* Bates’ wife is dead! What… just… happened. Did O’Brien kill Vampy Vera??? DID ANNA? Imagine if Anna wound up in the hoosegow for murder. That would be tragic, yet in keeping with this couple’s luck so far.

This episode ended on some serious cliff hangers. I can’t wait to find out who killed Vera and how. I also can’t wait for le moment dramatique when Matthew stands up and reveals he can WALK! You know that’s coming.

I could find little on the author of this business directory, which was published privately in 1905, but the directory itself is a goldmine of social history. To give a little context, Chicago was one of the destinations for African-Americans during the Great Migration; morever, the city was founded by a Haitian fur trader in the 18th century, and post-Civil War Illinois was progressive in its anti-discrimination and segregation laws. Nevetheless, in a big city such as Chicago, segregation was rife, and African-Americans settled in the “Black Belt,” or the neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side. There, well-to-do, middle-class, lower-class, and poor African-Americans lived cheek-by-jowl, surviving and thriving in less than ideal circumstances. However, a quick glance through this directory reveals pages of industries in which Chicago’s African-Americans were involved: from restaurants to dentistry, newspapers to millinery, and law to laundries. A lone entry that stokes my imagination is that of Madam Pearl Black, a Clairvoyant–one can only ponder what sort of fortunes she gave her clientele!

You can read the directory here:

Or download it for future perusal here.

Typist Heroines

Evangeline: When second housemaid Gwen Dawson decided to become a typist, she joined a long line of heroines (both real and literary) who cast aside Victorian notions of propriety to earn a decent living. The “Woman Question,” — or, what to do with “surplus” women who went against 19th century mores praising wifedom and motherhood as the sole purpose of a woman’s life and chose not to marry — dominated post-Industrial Revolution England.

Florence Nightingale broke barriers for middle-class women in the nursing profession in the 1850s, but proponents of higher education for women in the 1870s soon produced a generation of intelligent and college-educated middle- and upper-class women eager to use their education. The 1870 Education Act improved the lot of working- and lower-class women, and mandated compulsory schooling, which is how a farmer’s daughter like Gwen would have been able to learn the three Rs, and which gave her dreams beyond domestic service or even life in a factory. By the 1880s, women began to rapidly replace men in entry-level office positions, and by the Edwardian era, the image of a typist or secretary was fixed as a young woman in her white shirtwaist and tailor-made.

While it was not overtly articulated in the first season, Gwen’s desire to be a typist was a bit revolutionary — it was reasonable for a young lady from a middle-class family — perhaps the daughter of a clerk or a doctor — to seek a position in an office, but a farmer’s daughter and housemaid? This was jumping from the labouring class to the professional (lower-middle) class in one swoop! — one reason why many of the ruling elite were against universal education.

Next thing you know, Gwen could marry some nice accountant or bank clerk and set up house in a nice London suburb, where her children could attend school and perhaps a London university. Her grandchildren could move up the ladder even further, and one day her descendants could meet the Crawley family in some social capacity! Violet would be sure to have a heart attack over that. But I digress. Here are a few books featuring typist heroines, which go a long way to show how this new workforce influenced society and fiction.

The Career of Katherine Bush by Elinor Glyn (1916) – Read
A self made woman’s rise from a stenographer in a money lender’s office to a conspicuous round in the social ladder. How she learns from the mistakes she makes and how one’s actions come back to confront one make the story a life transcript. It is a constructive tale of how a woman made good in English society and her love story is evidently an engrossing one, and furthermore it is a perfectly proper story with a serious purpose. [Bookseller, vol. 45]
Melody: It’s always fun to see a heroine who is allowed to be smart and ambitious and doesn’t get punished for it — especially since she also doesn’t get punished for having pre-marital sex. Katherine’s efforts to better herself are a delight, and Glyn’s sharply observed social commentary is as good here as it is anywhere. I recommend this one pretty unequivocally.

Miss Cayley’s Adventures by Grant Allen (1899) – Read
Mr Allen has chosen for the theme of his new novel the old plot of an energetic youth who starts blithely forth with a good a stout heart and an empty pocket to win riches and a beautiful wife. The youth in this case, however, is a Girton girl, and the old “properties” become new with the change of the character from a hero to a heroine. Miss Cayley’s adventures are many. There is a jewel robbery; a missing letter; adventures in the desert and on the sea; a rescue of the hero by the heroine. As a lady’s companion, the heroine wins the heart of a languid and handsome young attaché, but resolves not to marry him as, while he has expectations of coming into a large fortune, she is dependent upon her own exertions for a livelihood. Through the machinations of the attaché’s cousin, he is accused of forgery, and his prospective fortune is forfeited. Miss Cayley has then opportunity of proving her love and, after marrying him, she clears his character of the charge against him. The story is written in a bright and vivacious manner in Mr Allen’s best style. [The Critic, vol. 31]
Melody: Miss Cayley spends a chapter as a typist, but mostly she spends the book trying out a lot of the available careers for women at the time — and being better than everyone else at all of them, and much less irritating than you’d think that would imply.

The Type-writer Girl by Grant Allen writing as Olive Pratt Rayner (1897) – Read
The type-writer girl tells her own story. She is a well-educated young woman, of good parentage, obliged to earn her own living. Her stock-in-trade consists of a bicycle and a type-writing machine, and she is looking for a situation when the story opens. She obtains a place at a third-rate solicitor’s office, but stays there only three days, going off to join a band of impossible anarchists near Horsham. But there she stops only a week, returning to her London lodgings and penury a wiser and a sadder woman. She is then lucky enough to be engaged as type-writer and private secretary to Mr. Blank, a publisher, a handsome young man. [The Publishers' circular and booksellers' record of British and foreign literature v67]
Evangeline: Juliet narrates the book in a sardonic and exuberant voice as she embodies pretty much every stereotype late Victorians had of “New Women”–bloomers, bicycles, cigarettes, sun-burnt skin from not wearing hats, and “masculine” traits–but Allen’s satire is gentle and affectionate. Towards the end of the book the story lifts beyond the stereotype and the author made an interesting choice for the ending.

A Girl of Ideas by Annie Flint (1903)
Modern making of books, of which there is no more end than ever, receives a blow from subtle, delicately aimed sarcasm in this breezy volume. The heroine,whose experience is vastly interesting, is disappointed in — no, not at all — there’s one girl who isn’t. It was “writing,” not “love.” She wrote a number of manuscripts — gems born to blush unseen. However, publishers rejected them. Her novel shared the same fate. She had an idea. She set up in business as a retailer of ideas to writers born without. It worked beautifully. So did she. The outcome of it all was a syndicate of writers to keep the market supplied with novels, speakers with speeches and preachers with suitable soul stirring sermons, altered to fit while you wait. The book is a sparkling, bright entertainer from beginning to end and Annie Flint is clever. [The Business woman’s magazine, vol. 1]

Servant Romances

Evangeline: It seems that we’ve always wanted to read fiction about people a little higher than us on the social scale, so books featuring servant heroines or heroes are rather thin on the ground (even today). Nevertheless, we do have the star-crossed romance of Anna and Bates to keep us enthralled, and here are a few stories that manage to combine our eternal love of high society romance with a servant protagonist.

Miss Million’s Maid by Bertha Ruck (1915) – Read
Entertaining story of a little London slavey who suddenly falls heir to great wealth. She engages her impoverished young mistress as her maid, who advises her well both as to matters of dress and her heart. The maid, incidentally, has many adventures and a romance of her own. [The Booklist v14]
Melody: This is a fun romp, and not much more, but that’s not a bad thing.

Barbara, Lady’s Maid and Peeress by Mrs. Alexander (1898) – Read
Those who want to describe a thorough-going good novel will instance Mrs. Alexander’s. Her tales never flag, — never. She has a sense of proportion and a sense of humor which keep her fiction fresh and new. The last story from her pen is Barbara: Lady’s Maid and Peeress. It is full of characteristic touches, peopled with English provincials, noble and untitled, animated by an uncommon plot, and altogether interesting. The story deals with the career of a young middle-class girl in London, who tires of mantua-making and goes out to a desolate castle in the north as lady’s maid. When the mistress of this dies, and her will is revealed, there is a domestic explosion which places the poor maid above her betters. It is all worked out with truth to character and perfect charm of narration, and it will keep all of Mrs. Alexander’s old, while making her scores of new, friends. [McBride’s Magazine v60]

Country House Parties

Evangeline: Prior to the Victorian and Edwardian eras, country house parties were common (since travel was slow and far, why not stay a while?), but once the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) expected his set to entertain him (lavishly), the house party became an indelible fixture on the social calendar. There’s something about gathering a group of people under one roof that seems to attract scandal, gossip, and games, and the following books explore all of these–and more.

The Visits of Elizabeth by Elinor Glyn (1900) – Read
Elizabeth is a real creation — a delightfully innocent debutante in some ways, the most appalling of enfants terribles in others, but always and everywhere a charming and healthy specimen of the best type of English girlhood. She takes us, in a series of letters to her mother, through successive visits to English and French country houses, holding the scales with exemplary impartiality when she weighs the merits of the two nations and introducing us to a great variety of hostesses and house parties with constant truthfulness and corresponding misconceptions. Altogether a difficult piece of work excellently well performed — hardly to be recommended virginibus puerisque, but wholesome and delectable reading nevertheless. [The Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art, vol. 90]
Melody: Elinor Glyn writes in pretty much the exact same milieu as that in which Downton Abbey takes place, and never more than in this, her first novel and one of her best. This is a must-read for sure.

The Country House by John Galsworthy (1907) – Read
It concerns only the members of a small country family, with a few neighbors and visitors, only a few episodes of rather commonplace character. The only thing approaching the dramatic is the son and heir’s entanglement with the wife of a drunken reprobate, who has, nevertheless, sufficient self-respect to institute divorce proceedings when he learns of the intrigue, and decency enough to withdraw them when he realizes that the prosecution of his case would hurt other people besides the guilty pair. This same son and heir also goes in for horse-racing, and gets deep into debt as a consequence. He makes a pretty poor hero; in fact, the story has neither hero nor heroine in the proper sense, and only a couple of characters with whom we have any sympathy whatever. Yet it is, as we have already suggested, an extremely interesting story, made so by the extraordinary precision of its characterization and literary phrasing. Few novelists are as successful as Mr. Galsworthy in adapting their means to their purposes, with the result, as in the present instance, of giving vivid reality to a group of commonplace people, and of reproducing the very atmosphere of the scenes in which they move. [Current Literature v43]

The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West (1930)
Evangeline: This is still in print, so it should be easy to find. Set mostly at a country house in Kent (Chevron, modeled after Vita’s beloved childhood home Knole), this is a Wharton-esque critique of Edwardian society told through the eyes of the jaded young Duke of Chevron, the sardonic explorer Leonard Anquetil, and Teresa Spedding, a middle class doctor’s wife whose bedazzlement by the aristocracy nearly ruins her marriage. The writing is a bit laborious, but the story is good and its value lies in trying to figure out the real-life people on whom Vita based her fictional characters (Lady Roehampton is definitely Alice Keppel, Edward VII’s last mistress)!

The Reason Why by Elinor Glyn – Read
The story of a beautiful panther-like woman, an English nobleman of slender means and a multi-millionaire who promises to settle a fortune upon the man and take care of the poor relations of the girl if they will marry each other. The reason why he does this the reader must discover for himself. The book is distinct from the author’s former novels but just as clever in plot and style. [Bookseller, vol. 35]
Melody: Read this one for he story of financier Francis Markrute’s attempts to woo Lady Ethelrida — it’s a lot more interesting that the central romance of Tristam and Zara, each of whom thinks the other is marrying them for their money, and neither of whom has any.

The American Heiress

Evangeline: Transatlantic marriages became fodder for authors soon after the first spate of marriages in the mid-1870s. By the 1890s, with nine American heiresses marrying in one year alone, it was a well-worn trope of writers, illustrators, journalists, and social commentators. Like Cora and Robert, many of these marriages were outright “cash-for-titles”, but unlike our Earl and Countess of Grantham, the majority did not grow into a love match. Yet popular fiction of the period produced on both sides of the Atlantic continued t fuel the starry-eyed fantasies of readers where the beautiful and intelligent American heiress conquered her British or European nobleman and they lived happily ever after, or provided cautionary tales against the mingling of the Old World with the New.

The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1907) – Read
There is much that is food for thought In this tale of the socially elect of the England and America of today. Reuben Vanderpoel of New York has added greatly to the millions his father wrested from the new world, and his two daughters carry that wealth to the old world to re-build two fine old English estates. The elder daughter, Rosie, is the victim of a dissipated fortune-hunter who abuses her and neglects his property. It is left for her sister, Bettina, the best product of American birth and European schools, to come to her rescue twelve years later with a clear head and a large bank account. While at work upon this task she finds that all poor noblemen are not mercenary and that one is both a man and noble. [Book Review Digest v3]
Evangeline: Yep, Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote “adult” novels alongside her popular “children’s” titles (quotation marks because the line between adult and children’s popular literature could blur in the Edwardian era), and this is her fine attempt at penning an American heiress romance. The philosophical musings of The Shuttle are rather bizarre, but once you get beyond that, you will love Betty and her prickly earl.

Miss Hogg: The American Heiress by Mrs. V.C. Jones (1900) – Read
The adventures of an American girl in London are used as the foundation of this story. Miss Hogg was an uncultured heiress, bent on capturing a coronet. In furtherance of her plans, she uses almost desperate means, and places herself in very perilous situations. Her American wit, however, helps her safely through thom all, and, at the close of the book she is respected and happy. [Father Anthony: A Romance of To-day, advertising pages]

The Title Market by Emily Post (1909) – Read
Emily Post treats an old theme flattering to our National pride with some freshness. The story flows smoothly until the American heiress returns to her American lover, but the closing scenes are rather too well arranged to be convincing—everything really could not turn to John’s profit in real life. [The Outlook v93]
Melody: I haven’t read this, but: Yes. That Emily Post.

The Dowager Countess and the American Girl by Lilian Bell (1903) – Read
The witty story of a family duel between an elderly dowager countess of England and her American daughter-in-law, in which the latter, by the gentlest means, comes off victorious.
Edith Joyce, an amiable and spirited American girl, married Archibald Cavendish [Earl of Mayhew], a dear friend of Sir John Chartersea. Sir John’s wife resents his fondness for Edith. The book contains in its frank conversation keen observations upon English and American society. [ad in Harper’s Weekly v47]
Evangeline: Haven’t read this (yet!), but this looks rather akin to Cora’s skirmishes with Violet.

WWI Fiction

Evangeline: Contrary to present-day perceptions of WWI fiction, writers of the period still wrote romantic fantasies, mysteries, women’s fiction and thrillers with the war as a backdrop. In fact, the Great War remained a popular backdrop for now-forgotten novelists and movies up to the outbreak of WWII.

Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins (1918) – Read
A bright, pleasing English love story. Patricia is young and attractive and just naturally invents a fiancé so that the other paying guests will stop pitying her lonely state. Romance follows promptly when the fiance insists upon materializing, much to Patricia’s consternation. [Booklist, vol. 15]
Melody: Funny, adorable, exciting, and probably pretty accurate about the feeling of being in London during World War I and always having it in the back of your mind–except when it pushes itself to the front (no pun intended).
Evangeline: Ditto!

The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1920) – Read
Von Ragastein, of the German secret service, in order to further his country’s sinister designs, lives in London impersonating an Englishman whom he greatly resembles—and a story of interesting and clever, though not always credible, mystery results. [A.L.A. Booklist v16]
Evangeline: This was apparently a very, very popular book in its day, spawning a few movie adaptations as well, and perhaps the Granddaddy of the switched-identity plot in spy novels. There’s a massive twist I didn’t see coming, and Oppenheim always includes a pretty neat romance.

The Zeppelin’s Passenger by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1918) – Read
The plot, audacious and full of up-to-date punch, revolves around the machinations of a German spy, who has been dropped from a Zeppelin’s observation car into a quiet English town on the North Sea. He enters the home of two charming Englishwomen through a window and manages to win their promise of secrecy in regard to his movements (which, of course, he makes them believe are innocent) by giving them letters from a prisoner in Germany who is the brother of one woman and the fiance of the other. From then on mystery and suspense and misunderstandings follow in quick succession with the reader panting breathlessly at their heels. It is a story after Mr. Oppenheim’s best style, and that is saying much, for he knows well the ingredients which go to make up an enjoyable bit of romance as well as a best seller. [Bookseller, vol. 49]
Evangeline: Another excellent thriller from E. Phillips Oppenheim. The surprising part is how sympathetically the German spy is written and that there is no censure of a married character’s infatuation with him.

The Red Signal by Grace Livingston Hill Lutz (1919)
A real American girl outwits a band of spies and agents for destruction in this country. It is a breathless and exciting yarn. Perhaps the finest touch Is the heroine’s gradual forgetfulness of self and safety as she realizes how her country can be served. [The Independent v98]

“Somewhere in France” in Somewhere in France by Richard Harding Davis (1915) – Read
A story about a German spy who masquerades as the wife of an English officer, and is caught in her lie.
Evangeline: This is a great short story set in WWI France with a surprise ending that makes me itch to write what happens next!

A Land Girl’s Love Story by Berta Ruck (1919) – Read
Joan tells the tale of two English girls who signed up with the Land army and found amusing experiences with their work, which they did not love at first. Two unattached wounded officers arrived just in time for the romance. [The Booklist v15]

The Girls at His Billet By Berta Ruck (1917) – Read
Had you been one of three lonely girls cooped up in a perfect horror of a village on the bleak eastern coast of Britain, without a man about the place except an ancient rheumatic gardener, you could appreciate the wild excitement and the interesting possibilities of having an instruction cam]) established in such an Adamless Eden and a real lieutenant about to be billeted in your own house. He came, precipitating an epidemic of khaki romances, about which the “flapper,” the youngest of the girls at his billet, tells in a sprightly fashion which renders her story irresistible. [The Bookman v45]

Good Old Anna by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1915) – Read
Set in an English cathedral town, this story deals informingly with the problems which a group of naturalized Germans had to meet during the early months of the present European conflict. There is Fritz Frohling, barber and hairdresser, a socialist who, not in sympathy with the militarism of the Kaiser, is content that his son is a sergeant in the British army. There is Hegner, a prosperous merchant who represents the dangerous class of aliens and who, as secret agent, gets English news into Germany. And, most prominent of the group, there is “good old Anna” the faithful servant of an English canon’s widow who, all unwittingly, is drawn into the secret agent’s net. Around the English widow and her daughter the main fabric of the story is woven, brightened by their romances and strengthened by their cheerful philosophy. [Book review digest, vol. 12]
Melody: That’s a pretty good summary, actually. I’ll just add that the interest here is more historical than character-based, and that I liked it a lot.

Dangerous Days by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1919) – Read
Dangerous Days is a romance of fine proportions, clear-visioned, absorbing. It deals with the crisis in married life when the inequality of spirit and mind in husband and wife puts affection to the test. [New outlook, vol. 123]
Melody: This is Rinehart trying to be all Significant, but having much more success being Appealing. Basically, there’s a manufacturer who’s concerned about the war and social issues and things, and then there’s his wife, who’s not. Proof that Rinehart is still really good even when there’s no mystery or adventure to be had.

Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1918) – Read
As “Bab” is the classic story of the American flapper in the old, gay days of unconcern, so Sara Lee is the youth, romance, tenderness, enthusiasm, courage and devotion of American womanhood in the hour of Armageddon. Sara Lee of [Pennsylvania], who opens a soup kitchen at the Front, is decorated by the King and meets a great love. [Ad in The Independent, vol. 94]
Melody: This is my new pick for quintessential WWI romance. It’s romantic, it’s adventurous, it shows a young woman being braver than anyone expects, and — I really enjoy how horrible the American fiance is. I’m not proud.

Everyman’s Land, by A.M. and C.N. Williamson (1918) – Read
A.M. and C.N. Williamson conduct the reader through the cities and towns of France that appear in the headlines of the newspapers. The romance of the devastated cities and the romance of the Irish war nurse Mary and her lost American lover run parallel. [The World’s work, vol. 36]

Tam o’ the Scoots by Edgar Wallace (1918) – Read
Edgar Wallace has done a remarkable piece of story writing with the spirit of the times in every paragraph. A typical Scot, a created personality as clear cut in its way as the Doctor of Drumtochty, an American woman with the characteristics of a noble American sacrifice for democracy in hospital life, all the thrills of airplane-triumphs and horrors that James Norman Hall puts into his experiences, and in all, unobtrusively, are the human vibrations that end in the sweetest of human experiences. It is all real life. Not an experience of air flights and fights that is not a real account of an actual experience in the war for world peace. [Journal of education, vol. 89]

The Yellow Dove by George Gibbs (1915) – Read
A story that keeps curiosity and excitement on tiptoe every second. Set in the heart of the great war now devastating Europe, an American girl serving under the Red Cross, and her fiance, a young Englishman, are heroine and hero. The mystery is the death dealing “Taube,” the Yellow Dove. There are spies, there are perils, deeds of courage and endurance; and in spite of the tense drama and tragic incidents of a story dealing in war, there is a constant flow of humor. The study of the young Englishman’s development from the typical haw haw who seems nothing but a slacker but who is really deeply involved in the mystery of the Yellow Dove; of the singular actions of John Rizzio; of the love situation between the three principal characters; the stir and color of the immense background, swinging from green English lanes and dinner parties in London to the mud of trenches, the tents and ruins amid which the armies are encamped, the headquarters of General French, the dangerous expanses of the air — it is all in Mr Gibbs’s best style, a thrilling tale that is also a study of human character and emotion under great stress. [Bookseller, vol. 43]

The Secret Witness by George Gibbs (1917) – Read
Mr Gibbs here gives us another novel of the European War quite as thrilling as The Yellow Dove, which has run through fourteen editions. An Austrian girl and an English man accidentally overhear an astounding Teutonic plot. They are discovered and flee, and the great secret service systems of Germany and Austria are set upon their heels. The story gives a clear picture of the events which caused the European War. [PW, vol. 92]

Living Alone by Stella Benson (1919) – Read
Not a real book nor for real people, says the author. It has a story, but more noticeably a style of rattling pretty nonsense and fancies which include witches dropped into very prosaic English atmospheres. For the grown up fairy tale reader. Not popular. [ALA Booklist, vol. 16]
Melody: That description is so delightful to me. Anyway, I have not come across a more ridiculous use than this of World War I as a backdrop. It’s got incisive social commentary, a use of fairies and things that reminded me of Susanna Clarke, and it’s occasionally pretty funny. Also there’s a dogfight over London between two witches and their sentient broomsticks, but mostly it’s not as exciting as that makes it sound.

The Firefly of France by Marion Polk Angellotti (1918) – Read
Briefly, The Firefly of France is in the manner of the romance — in the manner of Dumas, of Walter Scott. It is a story of love, mystery, danger and daring. It opens in the gorgeous St. Ives Hotel in New York and ends behind the Allied lines in France. The story gets on its way on the first page and the interest is continuous and increasing until the last page. And it is all beautifully done. [Miss Ingalis, advertising pages]

Nurses in WWI Fiction

Melody: Nursing looms large in World War I-era fiction. It was one of the few ways in which women could contribute to the war effort, which means not only that many women were able to gain skills and agency by joining the Red Cross or private ambulance corps, but that Red Cross nurses became the go-to heroines of war time fiction. In the section above, you’ll find numerous examples of women’s war work — if heroines weren’t nursing or running soup kitchens, they were probably, at the very least, knitting socks for soldiers — but here are a few more serious accounts.

Young Hilda at the Wars by Arthur Gleason – Read
An American girl, two English women, a couple of surgeons and a Red Cross ambulance at the furthest outpost of danger in Belgium. Hilda goes to the war from Iowa with a spirit in her that wins her appointment over hundreds of volunteers to the little dressing station at the fighting line. In the flood of desolation beyond all stemming, the field ambulance corps, always where it has no business to be, works steadily at patching up what men it can. Hilda is a gallant figure of an American girl in the war. With her chauffeur Smith, a nonchalant Cockney lad of reckless bravery, she goes where the fighting is most deadly and ruin and disease blackest, lighting the darkness a little by her humor and charm. This is a true story. Mr Gleason has worked since September with the Monro ambulance which has been under heavier fire than any other ambulance in the war. He has seen these things and he tells them with the power and feeling that always make whatever he has to say go straight to the hearts of his readers. [Out west magazine, vol. 42]
Melody: This one’s a little odd, because Hilda’s story is interpersed with, like, random descriptions of dead bodies. But it’s written in a really interesting, straightforward style, and the emphasis on the actions of the characters — and how effective they are — prevents it from being depressing. I liked it a lot.

Letters of a V.A.D. by R.E. Leake – Read
Perth-born Mollie Skinner nursed in India and Burma in the First World War. As ‘R. E. Leake”, she published a novel of nursing on the Western Front. [On the war-path: an anthology of Australian military travel by Robin Gerster, Peter Pierce]

Kings, Queens and Pawns by Mary Roberts Rinehart – Read
Subtitled “An American Woman at the Front” [this] is a volume packed with war incidents and permeated throughout with a keen sense of humor and a fine sense of values. A startling departure from the tales of fiction which have won their author an enviable place in the hearts of American readers, the present volume is an intimate study of woman’s part in the European conflict, her work with the Red Cross and under fire, the attitude of fighting men toward the women at the front and other kindred topics. It is at once a virile and thoroughly enthralling picture of modern warfare and of the women in and out of society who are participating in its various causes. [Bookseller, vol. 43]
Melody: Visiting the front in the first year or so of the war was a feat in and of itself, especially for a woman, but Rinehart can lay claim to more than that: at the time she visited Belgium and France, almost no writers were allowed to visit the front. War reporting was frowned upon, and the only person British Army allowed to publish articles about the war was one of its own officers. With that in mind, it’s particularly interesting to read about Rinehart’s travels. She’s unapologetically propagandising, and the Belgian, French and English officers she meets are happy to help. Also, I think she meets the real-life versions of the women in Young Hilda at the Wars.

Children’s WWI Fiction

Melody: Much as I love early twentieth century juvenile series fiction, I won’t claim that any of these books are very good. What they are is a great example of how childrens’ series dealt with the war, because every big series had to. Ruth Fielding became a Red Cross nurse; Tom Slade has extensive wartime adventures, including some as a motorcycle-riding dispatch-bearer; the Girls of Central High series came out of retirement for a book about fund-raising for the Red Cross, etc. The Moving Picture Boys went on a search for stolen propaganda films. There are even entire series based around the war: The Boy Allies, by Clair W. Hayes and Robert L. Drake, were, for boys, what the Red Cross Girls, by Margaret Vandercook, were for girls. And that’s just what I get from consulting my bookshelves.

Ruth Fielding In the Red Cross by Alice B. Emerson – Read
Ruth, Helen, and Jennie “Heavy” Stone attend Ardmore College together. Ruth continues to write moving picture scenarios and achieves even greater success. The girls leave college when the Great War begins and travel to Europe to help with the war effort. In time, the war ends, and Jennie Stone marries a French soldier. Tom Cameron suggests that he and Ruth make plans for their future, but Ruth wants a career and feels that marriage would be an obstacle. Ruth also feels that Tom is lazy and wants him to prove himself before they make a commitment.

Ruth Fielding at the War Front by Alice B. Emerson – Read
Ruth has to find out who is giving secrets to the Germans, lay to rest the mystery of a werewolf that is terrifying the locals, and rescue an American boy who is spying behind the German front lines. [Boys and Girls in No Man's Land: English-Canadian Children and the First World War by Susan Fisher]
Melody’s reviews of the Ruth Fielding series

Tom Slade with the Colors (1918) – Read
Tom Slade on a Transport (1918) – Read
Tom Slade with the Boys over There (1918) – Read
Tom Slade, Motorcycle Dispatch Bearer (1918) – Read
Tom Slade with the Flying Corps (1919) – Read, all by Percy Keese Fitzhugh

Melody: The Tom Slade books started out as a boy scout series with a movie tie-in, and after spending a substantial chunk of the middle of the series on the war, goes back to being a boy scout series. But it’s never obnoxious about it. Tom Slade is just honorable and practical and lovely, and he does it as well on a transport or a motorcycle as he does when camping in the woods. All those ridiculous adventure novel plots that revolve around people doing silly things for honor? Tom Slade does them right.

The Red Cross Girls in the British Trenches (1916)
The Red Cross Girls on the French Firing Line (1916)
The Red Cross Girls in Belgium (1916)
The Red Cross Girls with the Russian Army (1916) – Read
The Red Cross Girls with the Italian Army (1917)
The Red Cross Girls Under the Stars and Stripes (1917)
The Red Cross Girls Afloat with the Flag (1918)
The Red Cross Girls with Pershing to Victory (1919) – Read, all by Margaret Vandercook

The Boy Allies at Liege (1915) – Read
The Boy Allies in the Trenches (1915) – Read
The Boy Allies at Verdun (1917) – Read
The Boy Allies on the Somme (1919), all by Clair W. Hayes

The Boy Allies with the North Sea Patrol (1915) – Read
The Boy Allies Under the Sea (1916) – Read
The Boy Allies under Two Flags (1915) – Read
The Boy Allies with Uncle Sam’s Cruisers (1918) – Read, by Ensign Robert L. Drake
Melody: There were actually two “Boy Allies” series — one set with the army and one set with the navy — and these are just a few of the books. Interestingly, it seems that “Ensign Robert L. Drake” was a pseudonym for Clair W. Hayes.

Invasion Literature

Evangeline: One of the leading causes of World War I was the massive amount of tension and propaganda created by the popular media. William Le Queux, a writer of what we could politely consider a “pulp,” churned out so many novels warning English people of the German menace that by the outbreak of WWI, his readers were convinced there were German spies everywhere. Other authors were probably less convinced of the menace but eager to cash in on the craze for “invasion” literature, and between 1871 and 1914, hundreds of works of this genre were published, and regularly topped best-seller lists in England, Germany, France, and the United States.

The Double Traitor by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1915) – Read
The tale has to do with a young Englishman in the diplomatic corps in Berlin. Through an indiscretion he loses his post, and not succeeding in making his English colleagues listen to his warnings, he enters the pay of the Germans, substantiates his suspicions and gives his information to the British War Office. In this way he becomes a double traitor, and as such lays himself open to German vengeance. There is a love story running through the book, which is rather tragic in its climax and fails to make that impression of reality which on most occasions is an inherent quality of the Oppenheim stories. Of course, written at the present time, the story is interesting as revealing some more of the inner workings of the diplomatic service and the conditions that plunged Europe into war. [The Book News Month v33]
Evangeline: This was my first Oppenheim and I became an immediate fan. He was basically the Ken Follet of his day, and The Double Traitor is a great spy romance with sparse but exciting prose that keeps the pace moving quickly. I love all of the twists and turns of the plot, and the cliff-hangers kept me on the edge of my seat.

The Battle of Dorking (1871) by George Tomkyns Chesney – Read
An imaginary story of an invasion and defeat of Great Britain by Germany ca. 1875, inspired by the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War.
Evangeline: The progenitor of Invasion Literature, which sparked numerous spin-offs and inspired others like H.G. Wells to write their own.

The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers (1903) – Read
Two young men, an Englishman and an American, cruising in their little yacht among the islands which fringe the German coast, run innocently into a mystery. It is not only a mysterious mystery, but a very important one, as they shortly discover. Out of the welter of secrets, spies, strange deeds at night, adventure and danger emerge two figures — a lovely girl and her sinister father. How the two men at last unlock the secret, and escape with it, and carry off a willing girl and her unwilling father are exciting incidents of an exciting tale. [Our navy. vol. 9]
Melody: This is basically the first spy novel, and, as if that weren’t enough, it’s fantastic — adventurous, clever, funny, and suspenseful. One of the few books on this list that remains in print, and deservedly so.

The Invasion of 1910 by William Le Queux (1906) – Read
In Mr. Le Queux’s Invasion of 1910 the British Government and the Parliament at Bristol decline altogether to surrender, and after some desperate street fighting the German armies in London, cut off from their base by the British Fleet, and gradually worn down by the peristent hammering of a nation of ill-organised riflemen, are compelled to lay down their arms. [The Spectator v97]
Evangeline: This sold more than a million copies world-wide and helped to foster fears of Germany–and no doubt contributed to the race to build more dreadnoughts.

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (1915) – Read
The English hero learns of German spies who have acquired an important secret. His ensuing breathless experiences are related in a rapid, well-written tale which closes at the outbreak of the present European war. [New York Libraries v5]
Melody: A classic adventure novel and a really good book. I don’t know that anything more needs to be said.

Post-War Fiction

Melody: World War I was a center of attention from 1914 to 1918, even in the U.S., which entered the war late. People and governments sent their money, their resources, and as many men as they could spare. So while people were, obviously, glad when the war ended, it also left a gaping hole at the center of everyone’s lives — especially those of the young men who had dropped everything to go join the army. Post-war novels have a couple of things in common: the recklessness and frivolity that set in among young people in reaction to the privations of wartime, and a sense that no one quite knows what to do with themselves.

The Kingdom Round the Corner by Coningsby Dawson – Read
The clever author of so many cheering war books in his latest novel writes of “Tabs,” who came back from the war to find the kingdom which he had built up in his dreams fading away from him — and the kingdom had been a girl, audacious and beautiful. The story goes on to tell of how he set out to search for it again and found it — just round the corner. [Bookseller and stationer, vol. 54]
Melody: You’ll find all of the usual post-war stuff here. Lots of disillusioned young people who don’t know what they want to do with their lives, although the main characters eventually realize drinking a lot and dancing all night isn’t getting them anywhere. This one starts off really, really well, but doesn’t always keep up the momentum.

The Tale of Triona by William John Locke – Read
Engaging story of the marriage of an English girl, full of charm and eager for adventure, and Alexis Triona, a celebrated author whose concealment of a past deceit causes them both great unhappiness. [New York Libraries quarterly, vol. 8]
Melody: I suppose that if you go off and have exciting adventures in Russia all through the war, even returning to London as a celebrated author isn’t going to be exciting enough for you, but I don’t know if even that excuses Alexis Triona. This book is pretty ridiculous, but also incredibly engaging somehow.

I’ve Married Marjorie by Margaret Widdemer – Read
It is the story of the experiences of a war bride married in all the whirl of excitement on the eve of her husband’s departure. [The Overland Monthly v95]
Melody: Maybe I shouldn’t talk about this one? To me, it reads like an unintentional depiction of an abusive relationship.
Evangeline: LOL, I actually love this book despite Francis’ high-handedness. I guess I have a weakness for mad-with-love heroes who will do anything to win the object of his love.

The Trumpeter Swan by Temple Bailey – Read
The heroine, Becky Bannister of Virginia — that name alone tells one what to expect and the expectations are in every way fulfilled. Setting — huge estates in the South. Add to this her grandfather, the Judge, who had for the women of his family a youthfully romantic feeling that is somewhat going out of fashion. He liked them to have roses for their pretty noses and laces for their lovely faces and no harsh winds were allowed to blow in their direction. In return he expected their deference. Not so old fashioned after all? With all this potpourri stir in one lovable Southern chap of the old school who has just returned from overseas service and is filled with an ambition to write and a love that is even more strong than his ambition; then add one charming major, and a city youth who plays at love without regard for the consequences until they bite him. Mix all together during a summer breeze. sift in a few plums in the way of pleasant relatives, mothers and friends and you have a perfect recipe for a summer novel. Inconsequential and delightful as angel food. [Social Progress, vol. 7]
Melody: This one is very much about being young and disillusioned and back from the front. A little underwhelming, for me, but it hit all the right marks, and parts of it are lots of fun, and by “parts of it,” I mean “most of the minor characters.”

For once I’m glad this installment of Downton Abbey is only an hour, because I don’t think I could handle a 2-hour one this week. Anyway, I wonder what Thomas and O’Brien are going to be up to.

We’re in France! Vive la France! Shouldn’t the Americans be riding in to save the day soon? The guns blaze and there are explosions and Mary suddenly feels terribly cold. Daisy also felt a chill. That’s not a good sign! Sure enough, Matthew is injured. The expression on Lord Grantham’s face indicates that it’s not a scratch, either. William is injured too, apparently, and Lady Violet wants him to be taken care of at Downton Hospital, but the doctor/military guy won’t let her. Bureaucratic BS! But Thomas isn’t going to stand for that crap! He’s going to Do Something (but probably not).

Anna shares the news of the injuries with Bates. I’ve never seen a guy look so cute in an apron. They go to a church to pray about this and talk about their wedding. THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER.

Daisy’s ashamed she deceived William about her feelings. She should be. Vampy Vera chooses that moment to slither into the Abbey kitchens. She calls Anna a floozy! And she’s going to tell the WORLD about Lady Mary’s indiscretions because she can’t stand seeing Bates happy. Naturally, Thomas and O’Brien are the ones who called her in, but now O’Brien realizes Bates was protecting the Granthams and she’s fully annoyed.

Meanwhile, in the haven for sanity that’s Branson’s garage (great name for a bar, btw), Sybil has decided she needs to be chauffeured somewhere. Branson’s conversational gambit is, “Hey, isn’t Mary in love with Matthew?” That’s not well-played, is it? Yeah, that’s right, Branson, rich people have feelings too!

Lady Violet and Edith go to visit William. The prognosis is death. Since he’s going to die anyway, Lady Violet asks if they can take him back to Downton. William’s father is there as well and doesn’t seem to have heard about the prognosis.

At Downton, Matthew has arrived. The doc warns Mary that his condition will be “very distressing.” Again, not a good sign! He looks like a zombie extra Shaun of the Dead. His back looks like ground meat, and it turns out his spine is damaged. Matthew may never walk again, nor even do the horizontal dance. THE HORROR! Well, at least he’s not dying upstairs like William is.

Meanwhile, William gets his own room. POOR WILLIAM. I knew he was going to kick the bucket. Don’t they have like inhalers or something in this time period? Mrs. Pattmore continues to bully Daisy into pretending feelings for William. How long is this going to go on for? I’m going to guess until they’re married. Just listen to Mrs. Pattmore, Daisy, she’s smarter than you are.

Lavinia’s here. Is she still around? Matthew greets her with, “My darling.” Excuse me while I go puke.

Mrs. Hughes is helping out Ethel, because she’s nice like that. The Major is back in town and Ethel’s all, “Reunion! I bet he wants to see the baby!” OMG, this woman’s an idiot. Stupidly, Mrs. Hughes agrees to encourage this by passing along Ethel’s messages to the Major, but–shockingly!–he’s a dick. Wah-wah.

Back at Downton Hospital, Matthew has the grace to ask about William, and his own legs, which he cannot move. He bullies Mary into breaking the news that he won’t walk again. Hey, you know what situations like this call for? Tea!

Lady Mary has decided to tell Sir Richard about the Turkish Diplomat Incident to foil Vera. He’s really a bastard about the whole thing. His lips say, “blah blah blah,” but his dancing eyes say, “I’ll enjoy holding this over your head for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, you tramp. Thanks!”

New maid looks like a psycho.

Matthew breaks the news to Lavinia that they can’t be married–not properly. IF YOU GET MY MEANING. Did he just want to marry her so he could get under her skirts? Maybe they will get married and then she’ll take a lover and become the inspiration for Lady Chatterly’s Lover.

Paradoxically, now Sybil has decided to share gossip with Branson, but he’s been reading the Edwardian equivalent of MSNBC and is distracted by the fact that the Tsar and his family have been executed. I thought that was a secret execution? And why does Sybil always look as if her shirts are about to fall off her shoulders? Especially when she’s around Branson, haha. Methinks he’s making inroads with that one. Or not. There’s A Moment, she runs away.

Vampy Vera shows up at Sir Richard’s office to spill the beans on Mary’s virginity. Maybe she and Sir Richard should get together! They have very similar personalities.

Now Mrs. Hughes is bullying Daisy to marrying Will, as well. Poor poor William knows he’s dying, and he knows that if Daisy marries him she’ll get his pension. ZOMG, this episode is AWFUL, I can’t STAND it. Then even Lady Violet gets in on the act and bullies the pastor into marrying them. And whoa, no one does bullying like she does! “May I remind you your living is Lord Grantham’s gift?” *smile*

Lavinia is staying at Downton. There’s something so wrong about that. She tells Mary that Matthew can never have the sexytimes again. How convenient that you told that to Mary, your obvious rival, Lavinia!

Meanwhile, Sir Richard hasn’t wasted time and posted an announcement of their engagement. Uhg, can’t Vampy Vera kill him off or something? And is it just me or is Mary visibly aging during the course of this episode? Well, you may have foiled Vera this time, but she’ll be back! And don’t even think it’s over for Bates! Mwahahahaha. *exists stage left in a swirl of evil smoke*

Daisy and Will’s wedding! This scene is going to make me cry, I just know it. EVEN LADY VIOLET IS CRYING!!!! Worst. Episode. Ever. At least the bed looks nice. Daisy looks very pretty, as well.

Mary and Matthew are being spared all this drama in favor of their own problems. He’s expounding on why he can’t possibly marry Lavinia–or ANY woman–because of the lack of the sexytimes. “And if they should just want to be with you? On any terms?” Mary says, not talking about herself at all. But Matthew is in too much of a shame spiral to notice how she’s clearly not referring to herself. “I turned you down, now look at me… Impotent, crippled, and stinking of sick. What a reversal!” Matthew, are you implying Mary was puke-worthy when you broke off your engagement? Oh, good, mummy’s here to put up with your whining from now on.

Lady Mary gives Bates the heads up that their plan to foil Vampy Vera has worked. Everything in Bates’ and Anna’s garden is rosey now, but not in Mary’s. Can’t everyone’s garden be rosey?

William’s dead. I feel like I’ve spent an hour being punched in the gut. Feel free to cheer the eff up next week, Downton, for realz.

Photos courtesy of Downton Online; commentary is all Tasha (follow her on Twitter)

Taking a cue from the owner of the Julian Fellowes’ Titanic fanpage, as well as the number of lists recommending Downton Abbey/Edwardian/WWI-themed books (and stay tuned for the list Melody and I are curating), I decided it was a great time to brag about display my research library. This, my readers, is the result of nearly eight years of my Edwardian obsession that began when I was in my very early twenties–and I haven’t even taken pictures of my stash of Baedeker and Murray travel guides from the early 1900s (or…*gulp* the number of e-books on my hard drive)! Granted, this is nothing compared to some of the various collections I’ve seen–and drooled over–belonging to historians or costumers or hobbyists, so I’m always finding excuses to buy more books.

To give a general overview of this massive stack of books:

• Most have been purchased secondhand from Amazon, Abebooks, eBay, or library book sales
• The leading topics are (in order of quantity): Edwardian England, Gilded Age New York, Belle Epoque France, African-American/Progressive Era topics, Costumes, and Architecture/Interiors
• The most expensive book purchased has been my 1914 edition of Baedeker’s Egypt ~$80; the least expensive was my copy of Lord Grey of Fallodon’s memoirs $1.00
• Earliest purchase: The Reminscences of Lady Randolph Churchill by Mrs. Cornwallis West in 2005; Most recent purchase: Twenty Shillings in the Pound by W. J. MacQueen-Pope
• Oldest book: 1890 edition of Badeker’s Great Britain; Newest book: Inheritance: The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles, By Robert Sackville-West (2010)

My advice for anyone wanting to build their own research library–on any topic–is to search for general overviews first (and these tend to be less expensive than specialized titles), look through the bibliographies of those books you find most useful, and then shop around for the best price (and check to see if some of those titles are in the public domain). I’ve let some highly coveted books go because I didn’t feel they were worth the high prices, and then months or even a year or two down the road, I find a much cheaper copy! And remember, this is years worth of collecting–don’t feel pressured to buy everything at once (I did that the first year and my wallet howled).

It is no easy matter to secure quickly the treasure for whom you are seeking. Do not be in a hurry and take anyone; it only entails expense, much vexation, constant changes, and a bad reputation in the neighbourhood, because it is soon said that ” no one ever stops with Mrs. So-and-so.”

Better by far put up with temporary help than with someone who is unsuitable. It is a moot question whether it is better to find servants (1) through the medium of a registry office or (2) advertisements, or (3) through friends or tradespeople.

No. 1 answers well if you deal with a thoroughly good office where the head has a good reputation to keep up, and who charges a small booking fee of a is. or thereabouts, and then an engagement fee when the applicant is suited.

No. 3 is not always practicable, as it is a slow method, therefore No. 2 (an advertisement in a first-class paper) is generally the best.

State your requirements briefly, but plainly, and it is wise to conclude with the words ” No registries,” if you do not desire to deal with any, otherwise you are apt to be inundated with letters.

Interviews

A personal interview is necessary. No mistress is bound to pay the applicant’s fare, unless she has agreed to do so beforehand, though sometimes an attempt is made to demand it.

During the interview it is wise to ascertain:

1. Why she left the last situation.

2. What wages she desires.

3. If her health is good.

4. What experience she has had.

5. What hours off and holidays she expects.

If possible, show the girl the house, kitchen, and her own room. Explain clearly all details of the situation, such as number in family, hours for rising and coming in, dress, and so forth, so that she knows what is expected of her.

Obtaining Characters

If the first interview is mutually satisfactory, the next move is to write to the lady who is to give the character. Written recommendations are to be avoided if in any way possible, as many false characters are thus obtained; the address of an empty house in a good neighbourhood being given, the care-taker of which is a friend or relative of the applicant. This friend opens the letter and replies in glowing terms about So-and-so’s honesty, cleanliness, etc.

Wages

Wages are usually paid monthly, dating from the day on which the servant enters the situation.

Keep a wage-book, enter each payment, and always require the payee’s signature. Unless a special arrangement is made, remember no deduction may be made from wages for breakages, or for illness.

Holidays

No mistress can nowadays hope to keep servants unless she allows them reasonable and healthy relaxation. Usually one evening a week is given, between the hours of about 6 and 10, alternate Sunday after-noons and evenings, and, perhaps, an extra afternoon and evening once a month.

The yearly holiday ranges from a week to a fortnight. Fresh air and exercise are as essential for the maid as for the mistress, and it is bad management and false economy to permit domestics to become unhealthy and discontented for lack of them.

A New Servant

Be sure and give her a good start. Before her arrival see that all the cupboards, apparatus, cloths, etc., belonging to her province are in good order. Hand her an inventory of everything over which she has charge, and a plainly detailed scheme of her daily and weekly work, hours, etc.

A considerate mistress will also make sure that the maid’s room, bed, etc., are clean and comfortable, and will be prepared to show a little indulgence for the first week, or until the girl has been given time to settle down and learn the various fads of the family.

- Volume 1 of Every Woman’s Encyclopaedia

Watch Beyond the Fiction on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Manor House.

Reviews:
Recap and Review – Jane Austen’s World
Edwardian England Revealed: Secrets of the Manor House – The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower

Tonight was very stressful because the Giants’ game went into overtime, which means my mom INSISTED on watching American Idol even though Downton was on AT THE SAME TIME. As if American Idol can possibly compete against Downton. Whatevs. It’s so annoying when football interferes with anything, but most especially Downton Abbey. Grr. In other news, I hope Branson and Sybil get together in this ep. I confess I have a weakness for chauffeur/rich girl plotlines.

It’s 1918. Time moves fast in the Downton Abbey world! The Abbey’s still a hospital and Mary hates keeping people’s spirits up, totally unsurprisingly. She can barely keep her own spirits up, how can she be expected to give what little reserves of cheerfulness and hope she has out to others? Meanwhile, Lady Grantham has taken control of Downton by being passive-aggressive, ignoring Mrs. Crawley whenever she’s in the room and changing her timetable when she’s not around. Mwahahahaha.

Cora ignoring Isobel ©Downton Online

“It would be too much to accuse you of being unprofessional, since you have never had a profession in your life,” Mrs. Crawley tells her. Oh snap! Now we finally know where Matthew got that self-righteous streak from. Mrs. Crawley threatens to leave–several times–and Lady Grantham tells her not to let the door hit her in the arse on the way out. Fine then! She’s joining the Red Cross! And no one appreciates her. *sadface*

Lady Violet suspects Sybil’s in love with someone inappropriate. She has the instincts of a bloodhound, I swear to god. The Home Office should employ her as a spy. Are her and my grandmother related?

Violet questioning Mary ©Downton Online

In point of fact, Branson has apparently gotten over his moodiness and is back in love with Sybil despite their difference in stations. “I’ll stay at Downton until you want to run away with me… You’re in love with me, you’re just too scared to admit it,” he declares. Branson gets all the best lines.

Sybil and Branson ©Downton Online

Sir Richard has written to Lord Grantham asking for Mary’s hand in marriage, despite the fact that he’s been refused. What is with the passive aggressive asshole behavior in this episode? Mary thinks she should marry him, because he wants to buy her a proper house. Well la di da, Mary! I think you missed a lesson in the How To Live class, girl. But at least her dress is very nice! Just bordering on flapperish. She’s filling Matthew in on all the family gossip via post. Matthew is of course in France, with William! I forgot William was there. He talks a lot.

Some things never change, namely O’Brien and Thomas plotting. Thomas can’t help but notice Lord Grantham has no valet. But he’s not a footman anymore, is he, so he can’t fill the void… so to speak. Too bad!

Thomas and O'Brien plotting...as usual ©Downton Online

Meanwhile, the Crawley’s servants are depressed, since they no longer have anyone to serve. Moseley’s so bored he’s volunteering at Downton. A beggar comes around the Crawley house asking for food. He’s quite cute for a beggar. This gives Mrs. Bird the idea to start a soup kitchen for soldiers, since she’s so bored.

France! Matthew’s on patrol with William. They’re getting shot at! My mom is upset Matthew’s wearing a rain coat, I don’t know why. They disappear! Or at least William’s disappeared, which is odd. Lord Grantham FINALLY gets a phone call that William and Matthew are MIA. Cheerful as always, O’Brien reminds the staff that this means they might be dead. THANKS.

Rumor has it Mr. Bates is working in a public house. Not that kind of public house, get your mind out of the gutter. Thomas had it in a letter, I don’t know why, and Daisy read it and then she told Mr. Carson, who told Lord Grantham. Does Anna know?!? Grantham is slightly disappointed that she does, but on the plus side this means she can pass along more gossip.

In Downton’s kitchen, O’Brien wants to borrow bacon. Why, does she want to perform voodoo with it? She happens to hear about Mrs. Patmore’s “special storage area,” which is where she and Daisy are keeping extra food for Mrs. Bird’s soup kitchen. O’Brien smells a rat, and blabs about it to the housekeeper, who doesn’t care. She’ll find someone who does care if it’s the last thing she does!!!

The hungry veteran ©Downton Online

While O’Brien’s plotting, the gentry are dining. Lady Violet is still worrying over Sybil’s upper-class purity and starts off a most awkward dinner conversation gambit with, “So, Sybil, what are you up to, dear?” Sybil: “I’m not up to anything!” Doesn’t Lady Violet know one of the sure ways to get a young woman to do something is to warn her again it? Or him, rather.

Ethel (the maid) is also doing someone she shouldn’t do: the Major! The housekeeper catches them in flagrante delicto in Ethel’s room! What. An idiot. They could at least have gone at it outside the house. Ethel’s let go without a reference and hopefully not preggers.

Ethel and Major Bryant ©Downton Online

Lord Grantham has traveled to Yorkshire to beg for Mr. Bates’ return. It went something like this: “Mr. Bates, this show isn’t half as interesting without you! We need your mysterious yet noble presence. You also need to shave.” Actually, what happens is he tells Bates Matthew and William are missing. Mr. Bates to the rescue! He will use his mysterious powers and war connections to bring honor back to the earldom, and return Matthew to Downton. *angels singing*

Back at Downton, after the awkward dinner, Mary feels the need to console Sybil that Granny’s just being Granny and she shouldn’t be so upset about it, which leads to Sybil finally confessing to Mary that there IS something between her and Branson. But they haven’t kissed or anything! Mary is HORRIFIED. “What did you think, you’d marry the chauffeur and we’d all come to tea?” What a bitch she is sometimes. Hey, she sounds exactly her aunt. Mary makes Sybil promise not to do anything stupid, not that she has any room to talk. *coughTurkishdiplomatcough* I’m disappointed that Sybil neglected her duty as a younger sibling to point out the irony of this.

Mr. Bates is back to save us all from WWI. I’m sure he will be the key to ending hostilities, and finding Matthew. In the meantime he’s doing a fine job of sneering at Thomas. Everyone is happy to see Bates except Mr. Moseley, who was hoping to be the next valet to the earl; and O’Brien, who takes a moment to threaten Bates with the ominous warning that Thomas is in charge. WHAT IS HER PROBLEM?

Back to the days of Sybil and Branson’s lives… Branson looks very handsome in his chauffeur’s uniform when Sybil comes by to tell him she told Mary about them, even though there IS no “them.” How many times does she have to say that?! He insults her job, which loses him some points, but he gets them back by saying it just comes down to whether or not Sybil loves him. He’s a dreamer, our Branson. I’m actually not sure she’s that into you, dude; this could end really badly. Anna and Bates are also having a romantic interlude. L’amour!

Lady Grantham finds out about Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Patmore’s soup kitchen. From O’Brien, of course. O’Brien and Her Ladyship are roped into service.

Mrs. Hughes gets Thomas’ boss to give him a dressing-down for rudeness. But O’Brien thinks it was Bates, and she’s plotting something to get rid of him. Again, one has to wonder what her problem is. Does she think Lang will be re-employed if Bates goes? Not likely.

Finally everyone knows about Matthew being MIA. Edith told Mary and Lord Grantham told Lady Grantham. Mary’s having a little spaz, but Lord Grantham gives them the “Keep Calm and Carry On” speech, and they all go down for a concert. Mary and Edith are performing! Is Mary going to cry while singing a touching a song? “If you were the only girl in the world, and I were the only boy…” Sing along!

Mary is shocked ©Downton Online

WAIT! IT’S MATTHEW! HE’S ALIVE! Oh, we never knew how much we liked you until we thought you were dead, Matthew. And now he’s singing too! This is like Downton Abbey: The Musical! Matthew can actually sing, that’s amazing. I want a musical episode NOW, Julian Fellowes!!!! I think my mom’s actually starting to get into this show; she wandered in to find out why they were singing.

Matthew is safe ©Downton Online

Afterward, Matthew explains his disappearance was just stupid army bureaucracy, more or less. He confesses to Mary that war is starting to seem more real to him than Downton, which is not a good sign. Then they exchange uncomfortably intense “You take care of yourself,” wishes and part. Yes. YOU TAKE OF YOURSELF, OKAY???? *STARE*

Meanwhile, Anna and Bates are making zee plans, and Thomas and O’Brien are making zee plans to ruin their plans, whatever they happen to be. Thomas and O’Brien are like nega-Anna and Bates.

Ethel has returned begging for forgiveness. She is pregnant. Naturally! Mrs. Hughes better get her gun so she can force the Major to marry her.

Anna and Bates ©Downton Online

Annnnd that’s the end. That was a pretty good episode. It was all about zee lurrve, which naturally I enjoy; and Bates came back, even though he wasn’t in the show that much. The scene with Dan Stevens and Michelle Dockery (Matthew and Mary) singing together was priceless. I hope that gets posted on YouTube. Stay tuned for next week when Matthew gets blown up, Vampy Vera returns to ruin Mary’s reputation, and Bates ends the war. Keep calm and carry on!