Downton Abbey "Read-alikes"

The PBS series Downton Abbey is a drama that begins in the years leading up to World War I, centering on the Crawley family and their servants.

This award-winning Masterpiece Classic series has garnered rave reviews, and we even have the First Season available to request on DVD at the Westfield Washington Public Library.

If you're a fan of Downton Abbey, try out one of these books while you wait for the next episode:

Ravenscar Dynasty by Barbara Taylor Bradford
Edward Deravenel is suspicious about the true cause of the mysterious fire that killed his father, brother, uncle, and cousin and vows to seek out the truth while taking control of his family's business empire with the help of his friend, and cousin, Neville Watkins.

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
This is the latest part of a sweeping, multi-generational saga. In London, 1914, with World War I approaching, polar explorer Seamus Finnegan tries to forget Willa, a passionate mountain climber, as he marries a beautiful young woman back home in England.

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
At 14, Grace Reeves leaves home to work for her mother's former employers at Riverton House. She is the same age as Hannah, the headstrong middle child who visits her uncle, Lord Ashbury, at the house with her siblings. Fascinated, Grace observes their comings and goings and, as an invisible maid, is privy to the secrets she will spend "a lifetime pretending to forget."

Click on the title of each book to go directly to the library's Evergreen catalog and make a request!