Books with title Above and Below Stairs

In this charming new children’s book, we meet two characters who learn that working together to achieve a goal can be more beneficial and rewarding than stubbornly trying to do it on their own. Elliott the Rabbit and Mason the Gopher are unknowingly sharing the same garden. Elliott works hard from above as Mason is busy at work below. When they stumble upon one another, they get into an argument about who has the right to the garden. Not wanting to share the carrots they have each worked so hard to grow, Mason and Elliott go their separate ways in an attempt to start new gardens that they don’t have to share with one another. Will these two have success on their own, or will they realize just how much they need one another?

In this charming new children’s book, we meet two characters who learn that working together to achieve a goal can be more beneficial and rewarding than stubbornly trying to do it on their own. Elliott the Rabbit and Mason the Gopher are unknowingly sharing the same garden. Elliott works hard from above as Mason is busy at work below. When they stumble upon one another, they get into an argument about who has the right to the garden. Not wanting to share the carrots they have each worked so hard to grow, Mason and Elliott go their separate ways in an attempt to start new gardens that they don’t have to share with one another. Will these two have success on their own, or will they realize just how much they need one another?

Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, Margaret Powell's classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s. As a kitchen maid – the lowest of the low – she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids' curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress's nephew, Margaret's tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Margaret Powell's true story of a life spent in service is a fascinating "downstairs" portrait of the glittering, long-gone worlds behind the closed doors of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.