Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor by Rosina Harrison

A memoir by Nancy Astor's lady's maid, who served her for 35 years. Harrison spends little time discussing Astor's politics (as she points out, she was privy to Astor's personal life, not her professional one, and what she knew of Astor's political life was heard second hand) and instead focuses on the household and family dynamics. The review I read that first alerted me to this book's existence (can't remember where I read it now) emphasized the amount of travelling Harrison did with Astor, but despite a desire to travel being one of the reasons Harrison strove to become a lady's maid (because the only servants that always travelled with their employers were personal maids and valets) it's only mentioned early on as Harrison's motivation and has a single late chapter devoted to a discussion of travels. This doesn't make the book any less interesting or enjoyable, but I feel I should mention it in case anyone else stumbles across it.

Harrison speaks very fondly and sometimes defensively of Astor even when criticizing her or discussing her more negative traits. While no doubt influenced by nostalgia (the memoir was published around 10 years after Astor's death) the near-symbiotic relationship she portrays is very interesting and entertaining, and Harrison incorporates stories other servants told her about the Astors from before she joined the household. While Margaret Powell's memoirs (which I have not read yet) are, I believe, considered the "official" inspiration for Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey, I suspect this memoir influenced Downton, Gosford Park and the newer incarnation of UpDown, as there were various times reading it that I suspected a scenes or plotthread from those shows grew from something in this book.

Harrison's prose is rather rough, but very readable, and the book overall is very interesting.