The lifestyles of the rich and renowned and their army of servants are chronicled by a master of the genre.
BELGRAVIA
Julian Fellowes
Hachette
By PATRICIA THWAITES
Belgravia is reputed to be one of the wealthiest districts in the world. It wasn't always like that until the early 19th century, when these palatial mansions were built and segments of London society moved in representing the aristocracy, the nouveau riche and the considerable number of staff members needed for their comfort.
The setting provides fallow territory for Julian Fellowes, of Downton Abbey fame, who writes here what he's famous for, chronicling the lifestyles of the rich and renowned and their army of servants in earlier times, and capturing the nuances of class distinctions and snobberies. He does it with authority and a good dash of sly humour.
Famous characters from the past mingle with fictional ones. Many of the real ones are met at the book's beginning in Brussels, where the Duchess of Richmond is giving a ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.
All goes well until the Duke of Wellington is called away urgently, and the evening's entertainment finishes on a grim note, as the dashing young officers present follow him out, many to be killed in the ensuing conflict.
The ball also serves to introduce the book's main fictional characters, including one of the doomed (and aristocratic) young men and the charming (but unsuitable) young woman he's in love with.
Belgravia began life in serial form. It's written with the usual hook at the end of each chapter as an enticement to read on. The ingredients of any good soap opera/television series are here: beautiful people and villains, misunderstandings, conflicts and an eventually satisfying conclusion.
It's an easily readable page-turner, with Fellowes providing enough substance to make his characters believable.
Patricia Thwaites is a retired Dunedin schoolteacher.
