Curing Downton Abbey Withdrawal

Is anyone else suffering from Downton Abbey withdrawal like I am? I can't wait for season three to premiere, but since it will be quite a long wait before the show returns to PBS, I decided to check out some of the other great work from Julian Fellowes. First up: The film Gosford Park, which he wrote. 

I saw Gosford Park many years ago and absolutely loved it! A fantastic look at the British aristocracy between the first and second world wars. It somewhat resembles Downton Abbey but there is a murder mystery element to it and it is a bit naughtier than Downton, which I love. Also, Maggie Smith is in it, which is reason alone to watch the film. She is such a talent and so fun to watch. If you are interested, Gosford Park is currently on Netflix.

I also read Snobs, a novel that Fellowes published in 2005. It was very popular when originally released, but after Downton Abbey mania hit, the book became even more popular.

I am an enormous fan of satire and comedies of manners, and Snobs has all of this.  This may be one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I reread it not long ago and it was just as good the second time.

 It takes an inside look at the complicated British class system through the eyes of a social climbing, upper-middle class women (Edith), who marries into a titled family. It turns out that country shoots and committee meetings aren't as exciting as she thought. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in what Downton Abbey would look like in the modern world.

Fellowes wrote a second novel in 2009 called Past Imperfect. I have not read it yet, but it is currently sitting on my bedside table. 

This is the book description from Amazon.com:

“Damian Baxter was a friend of mine at Cambridge. We met around the time when I was doing the Season at the end of the Sixties. I introduced him to some of the girls. They took him up, and we ran about together in London for a while….”

Nearly forty years later, the narrator hates Damian Baxter and would gladly forget their disastrous last encounter. But if it is pleasant to hear from an old friend, it is more interesting to hear from an old enemy, and so he accepts an invitation from the rich and dying Damian, who begs him to track down the past girlfriend whose anonymous letter claimed he had fathered a child during that ruinous debutante season.

The search takes the narrator back to the extraordinary world of swinging London, where aristocratic parents schemed to find suitable matches for their daughters while someone was putting hash in the brownies at a ball at Madame Tussaud’s. It was a time when everything seemed to be changing—and it was, but not always quite as expected.

Sounds pretty good right? I will do a post on the book once I read it.

Does anyone else have any fixes for Downton Abbey withdrawal? Please post any TV, movie or book suggestions in the comments section!

*All photos and book descriptions are via Amazon.com*