Julian Fellowes is best known as the creator of the TV series Downton Abbey, a show that focused on the complex relationships between classes in the England of the past, that combined social commentary with soapy romance and melodrama, its increasingly ridiculous plot lines peppered with anachronisms in both characterisation and language. All of those things feature prominently in Belgravia, a novel whose central plot point is a 25-year-old secret and the consequences that result from that secret coming finally to light. I won’t spoil the […]
There’s certainly a lot of damned things that happen
If there’s one thing that can be said about this book, it’s that it lives up to its title. The premise is fascinating: An institute of historical research called St Mary’s, associated with the (also fictional) University of Thirsk in northern England, is not the stuffy old institution it appears to be but actually conducts its historical research in the most contemporary way possible–they go back in time and observe the events firsthand. The main character, Dr Madeleine Maxwell, called Max, is recruited by St […]