How to Write: Helpful books that will assist you in writing

Saturday at Samuels Public Library we will be having our Local Authors Fair. To get you in the mood, here are some books that you might want to pick up while at the fair. Each book below will help you start (or even finish) whatever masterpiece you have been working on.

Maybe you should write a book by Ralph Daigh – Daigh gives all would be writers a kick in the pants to start writing their books. He takes the mystery out of the publishing process and shows you the pertinent steps you need to take in order to get your work into the editors' hands. His sole motivation is to help as well as encourage you to get your book in print. Any excuse that you may have regarding your marital, social or educational status in writing doesn't hold water with this man. Included in this work are profiles of authors he knows that share with you their experiences.

You can write a Mystery by Gillian Roberts - Have you ever thought about writing a mystery, and gave up the idea because you didn’t know where to begin? Now is your chance to write the mystery of your dreams. You Can Write a Mystery, written by Gillian Roberts, author of the Anthony Award-winning Amanda Pepper series, will help you start your mystery, and guide you through to the end. With this book you'll learn how to build your story from the ground up, based on what Roberts calls the "Seven Cs." Examples and exercises will help you complete your story—filled with cliffhangers, intriguing characters and hooks. This book offers practical suggestions for handling problems likely to arise during the writing process.

Writing a Thriller by Andre Jute – Aimed at the new writer, this book shows how perseverance, command of certain learnable techniques and determined practice can enable them to write successful thrillers. It covers choosing the initial theme of the story, the creation of the characters, detailed plotting, research, cutting, rewriting, writer's block and how to find and keep a publisher. This edition has been revised throughout and includes a new chapter on using history in thriller writing. This book demonstrates how to borrow and adapt from history and what conclusions to avoid. Andre Jute has written 19 novels, with nearly 100 editions in English and translations.

Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith – In this book, she analyzes the key elements of suspense fiction, drawing upon her own experience in four decades as a working writer. She talks about, among other topics; how to develop a complete story from an idea; what makes a plot gripping; the use (and abuse) of coincidence; characterization and the "likeable criminal"; going from first draft to final draft; and writing the suspense short story. Throughout the book, Highsmith illustrates her points with plentiful examples from her own work, and by discussing her own inspirations, false starts, dead ends, successes, and failures, she presents a lively and highly readable picture of the novelist at work.

How to write a book proposal by Michael Larsen – How to Write a Book Proposal is the resource for getting your work published. This newly revised edition of the Writer's Digest Books classic outlines how to create an effective, nonfiction book proposal in a clear, step-by-step manner. Author Michael Larsen also provides insider insights into the publishing industry as well as a plethora of newly updated information. You'll also find complete guidelines to becoming an effective self-promoter.

The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells by Ben Bova – Ben Bova, best-selling author and six-time Hugo Award winner for Best Editor explains step by step all the elements you need to write professionally selling science fiction. Bova was editor of both Analog and Omni magazine, two of the best-ever markets for short fiction, as well as a best-selling novelist -- so nobody knows what sells better than Ben Bova. The book breaks down every aspect of writing and analyzes it in depth, including with complete example short stories that he examines for how they tick. The book targets science fiction in particular since it's one of the hardest genres to write, but his explanations are applicable to fiction of any genre. This is a must-read for anyone trying to break into the professional science fiction writing field.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry by Nikki Moustaki – Discover the poet within! You've read poetry that has touched your heart, and you'd like to improve your own writing technique. But even though you have loads of inspiration, you're discovering that good instruction can be as elusive as a good metaphor. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry will help you compose powerful, emotion-packed poems that you can be proud of. You'll learn simple explanations of poetry building blocks such as metaphor, imagery, symbolism and stanzas; steps to the poetic process; easy-to-follow guidelines for writing sonnets, sestinas, narrative poems and more; fun exercises to help you master the basics of poetry writing; cliches and other poetry pitfalls to avoid; advice on writers' conferences and workshops; tips on getting your poetry published; good poems that will inspire your own work; strategies to beat writer's block.

More books that are similar to this are:

Structuring your Novel by Robert C. Meredith

How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II: Advanced Techniques For Dramatic Storytelling by James N. Frey

How to Enjoy Writing: a book of aid and comfort by Janet Asimov

How to Write a Play by Raymond Hull

Writing for the Joy of it: a guide book for amateurs by Leonard L. Knott  

Local Authors Fair Part 2

The Authors Fair is growing closer, so here is a look at more of the people that will be featured. Enjoy, and remember, comments are welcome.

Zita the Spacegirl. Book 1, Far from home by Ben Hatke - Zita's life took a cosmic left turn in the blink of an eye. When her best friend is abducted by an alien doomsday cult, Zita leaps to the rescue and finds herself a stranger on a strange planet. Humanoid chickens and neurotic robots are shocking enough as new experiences go, but Zita is even more surprised to find herself taking on the role of intergalactic hero. Before long, aliens in all shapes and sizes don't even phase her. Neither do ancient prophecies, doomed planets, or even a friendly con man who takes a mysterious interest in Zita's quest.Zita the Spacegirl is a fun, captivating tale of friendship and redemption from Flight veteran Ben Hatke. It also has more whimsical, eye-catching, Miyazaki-esque monsters than you can shake a stick at.

How do you do, Mrs. Wiley? by Missi Magalis - How Do You Do, Mrs. Wiley? is the story of Grace Wiley, a strong and courageous, funny and loveable girl whose parent's marriage ends tragically, causing her to have to go live with her quirky grandmother, Gwen Wiley. Grace and her two best friends, Sadie Cooper and Ollie Clark, are unable to escape the curious guidance of this odd but loving grandmother. This story is packed with heartbreak and humor and will leave the reader missing the characters.

This is an excerpt from one of the poems on Jose Padua’s blog.

“I wonder how different

things would have been,

if instead of calling the first

track on Electric Ladyland,

“And the Gods Made Love,”

Jimi Hendrix had called it,

“And the Dogs Made Love”.”

Can I Just Take a Nap? by Ron Rauss - The newest winner of the General Mills Spoonfuls of Stories contest is a young boy who’s very tired from his busy day, but can’t seem to find enough peace and quiet to fall asleep. Can I Just Take a Nap? is the winner of the 4th annual Cheerios® New Author Contest. Selected from more than 8,000 entries by a team of editors, teachers, librarians, and General Mills staff, Can I Just Take a Nap? will also appear in a bilingual (English/Spanish) mini-paperback edition in 3 million specially marked boxes of Cheerios.

  

The Christmas Truce by William Shifflett - Tommy Howell loves Christmas invitations. But this year the celebration is threatened by a dreaded invitation to a place filled with memories of deception and pain. Recollections provoked by the invitation inflame the anger he's successfully avoided for years. It's the last place on earth he intends to go for Christmas, and he resolves to decline the invitation.

But something gets in his way: his children. He must confront his painful memories, a dark secret known only to himself, and the man behind it all.

Can he find the strength to forgive? Will he carry angry resentment the rest of his life or will this season of peace bring a Christmas Truce?

Wolf Pie by Brenda Seabrooke - These are the Pygg brothers: James, Marvin, and Lester. And when they get a visit from a wolf named Wilfong, what you think is going to happen doesn’t. And what you think couldn’t possibly happen actually might. But one thing that will definitely happen is that everyone is going to learn how to make wolf pie—and you know what the main ingredient in that is, right? (It’s probably not what you’re thinking.)

 Bloodroot Cantons: An Alternative Story of Virginia and the Blue Ridge by Larry Lamar Yates - In 1729, enslaved Africans made a well-planned, well-equipped flight from eastern Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley. Their brave effort, history records, ultimately failed. But in Bloodroot Cantons, history takes a different turn. The escaped Africans meet a Shawnee band, whose own ugly history with whites makes for an alliance that defeats the pursuing slavecatchers. The two linked communities create a refuge from British colonial power for native people and for the enslaved. Then call of justice, good farmland, and dissatisfaction with increasingly ungodly Pennsylvania, bring in a third group – Anabaptists and Quakers

The Authors Fair will be held at Samuels Public Library on Saturday, January 25th from 1-4 p.m. 

Local Authors Fair

So do you want to publish a book, but don’t know how to go get started? Are you writing a book and have hit a wall? Or, are you like me and have so many ideas that you don’t even know what to do with yourself? Well… Did you know that Samuels Public Library is having a local authors fair on Saturday January 25, from 1-4 p.m.? Come and meet people who have struggled and succeeded in the endeavor of writing a book!

Here is just a small sample of the author’s books that will be at the fair, more will be added shortly.

Smoke Eaters by Christine Andreae – Three years after qualifying for high command in the Forest Service, Mattie McCulloch is finally assigned to her first big fire. She is the first woman to hold tbe job. Under her are seventeen hundred troops and an operation that costs one million dollars a day to run. Mattie is put in charge of the fire after the camp is plagued with racial troubles, but that is only the beginning of her problems. Her son Jim is stationed at Justice, and she is torn between motherly concern and her duties as commander. Mattie also has to deal with subordinates who do not want her in charge and a group af nudists who do not want any firefighters on their land. As the tension of the firefight heightens, readers also learn that there is a psychopath on the loose. In his diary he writes about the games he likes to play with fire, and the amount of rage he displays toward women is frightening. Soon he begins to focus on Mattie with obscene and threatening messages.

1,000 to 1! : claiming, breeding and racing thoroughbreds on a shoestring-and beating the odds by Malcolm Barr – 1,000 to 1" is an anecdotal story about the varied people--from a cabinet officer to a bell captain--who have owned inexpensive horses with the Hampshire partnerships, the people who have trained and cared for the horses, and the horses themselves. This is not a "how to" book since, during our 17 years in the business, despite business plans and racing plans and breeding plans, and, you name it, any other plans, the dynamics constantly changed, and we changed with them. Racing and breeding thoroughbreds always seem to us to be a seat of the pants enterprise, with change being a constant. It is a story about how to spin a $2,500 share into a two-year ownership involving three, four, and sometimes five cheap race horses who, somehow or other, managed to reach the winner's circle a phenomenal 20% of the time over a 17-year period, some years twice that often. It is a story of how a group of novices stumbled into breeding thoroughbreds successfully, accomplishing the near impossible--that is, seeing all the foals they sent to the races wind up in the winner's circle! It is also a story of blind faith, faith in our trainers, in our animals, and in our jockeys who give their best for our entertainment in what can be, and often is, the world's most dangerous sport.

The courageous follower : standing up to & for our leaders by Ira Chaleff – For every leader it is necessary to have followers who work closely with them to achieve their goals. The Courageous Follower gives followers the insights and tools needed to effectively partner with their leaders. The results it offers are nothing less than highly satisfying and productive working relationships, organizations that are saved from the consequences of serious missteps by leaders, and leaders whose careers are saved by honest and effective feedback from those who know them best. The third edition has a new chapter on what people can do when they don't have direct access to a leader, when orders that come down to them through a hierarchy seem ill-advised -- a skill whose need has been thrown into high relief by the recent failures of economic leaders.

Rapunzel let down : a fairy tale retold by Regina Doman – Hermes McCaffrey is sick and tired of sharing his life with his father’s political career and his overbearing older brothers. So during his family’s vacation in New England, when he meets Raphaela, a lovely and brilliant girl dreaming in a hidden tower, is it surprising that he wants her all to himself? But visiting Raphaela is dangerous, and not just because of her mother’s paranoia about strangers or her estate’s sinister caretaker. When Hermes decides to go too far, the results are devastating for Raphaela ... and for Hermes as well.

What happens when falling in love means falling into deep sin?

Demystifying Mysticism Gratitude As Gift by Robert Colacurio – Jesus gave the key to the Kingdom and to life more abundant when he gave us the example of children. This book explores the idea that people are most themselves when they achieve the seriousness of children at play. When folks are most themselves, they naturally experience the beginnings of mystic perception. The demystifi cation of mysticism starts as simply as the focused attention of children at play, and takes small steps that, slowly but surely, lead to a life changing relationship with the Divine and the entire universe. Although this book is not intended to be a how-to manual, it nevertheless brings the demystifi cation of mysticism down to daily experiences that can be practiced by anyone. Mystic perception just penetrates beyond their surface appearances. Once even the fundamentals of mystic perception become clarifi ed in practice, sacred space opens up as one s natural environment. Within the environment of sacred space, gratitude as a gift giving exchange becomes the natural relationship one comes to enjoy with the entire universe.

The Lost Tribe of Us by Heather Davis –In The Lost Tribe of Us, Heather Davis offers her readers vivid, occasionally comic, more often gut-wrenching poems that, in the first part of the book, engage with the lives of members of a large family-all the vulnerabilities and pathos of poverty: repossessed cars, joblessness, leaky roofs, too small houses, second-hand clothing and teen-age pregnancy. Later, the scope of the poems widens to include aspects of the world at large: war, terrorism, rape, imprisonment, incest, mental illness, much of what troubled flesh is heir to. But to say simply that the poems are about big subjects that really matter is not to do them justice. They are invariably characterized by exquisite formal control, the always lovely deployment of language that is a delight to the eye and ear. The Lost Tribe of Us, is a wonderful first book by an exceptionally gifted poet.

Stonewall Jackson and Winchester, Virginia by Jerry Holsworth – The relationship between Stonewall Jackson and the town of Winchester, Virginia, began in June 1861 and lasted until his untimely death on May 10, 1863. Jackson's values and beliefs reflected sentiments of the vast majority of the people of the Shenandoah Valley. This, coupled with his spectacular successes on the battlefield, endeared Jackson to the people of Winchester, helping to form a remarkable bond between the general and the townspeople that is still remembered today. Local historian Jerry Holsworth chronicles the relationship between Jackson and the soldiers and townspeople of Winchester with information gathered from diaries, letters, journals and newspaper articles. Holsworth also recounts stories of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the battles that forever cemented Jackson's place in Winchester history

Washington, DC : a photographic portrait by Jake McGuire – This photographic portrait is a celebration of Washington, DC, the capital city of the world's greatest democracy. Jake McGuire has not only captured the famous "post card" vies of this great city, he has captured its many moods and seasons. Enjoy our nation's capital, a city with no equal in the world.

Reading Lists - Twelve Days of Christmas - Nonfiction

Christmas Bells are Ringing 

selected by Sara and John E. Brewton

Enjoy a delightful anthology of poetry for the holiday season, from quaint and traditional poems to modern verses, reverent poems to holiday jingles.

Christmas Everywhere by Elizabeth Hough Sechrist

Sechrist compiled the Christmas customs of many lands in the 1930s. Learn about traditions is Palestine, Mexico, Serbia, Holland, France, England, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Romania, Italy, Asia, Australia, South America, and more! The section on the United States covers Southerners, New Englanders, Shakers, Pennsylvania Dutch, Hawaiians, and others.

Christmas in Plains by Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter's Georgia hometown has been the one constant in his life, and he pays tribute to it with Christmas in Plains, a collection of holiday memories from his childhood through his Navy days, his time as Georgia governor and U.S. president, and his very active retirement.

Everything Christmas by David Bordon and Tim Winters

In this book, you’ll find your favorite classic Christmas stories and a few new ones destined to join them. You’ll discover the most delectable holiday recipes, enjoy the words to treasured hymns and carols, be encouraged by inspirational Christmas poems, and find renewed joy in the Nativity story. From decoration ideas to Christmas trivia and humor – it’s all here!

The Everything Christmas Book

You can make eggnog and dozens of other classic Christmas recipes, as well as wonderful gifts from the kitchen. There are party ideas, stories and poems, customs and traditions, gift ideas, and a history of Christmas around the world. Plus a complete look at 20th Century American Christmases—from ads that ran in the 1940s to Harry Reasoner's 1968 essay "What Christ Looked Like."

A Foxfire Christmas edited by Eliot Wigginton

This book of recollections celebrates the holiday traditions of Appalachian families as passed from one generation to the next. The memories shared here are from a simpler time, when gifts were fewer but perhaps more precious, and holiday tables were laden with traditional favorites. The book includes instructions for recreating many of the ornaments, toys, and recipes that make up so many family traditions, from Chicken and Dumplings to Black Walnut Cake, and from candy pulls to corn husk dolls and hand-whittled toy cars.

The Holly and the Ivy by Barbara Segall

Written by a botanist, The Holly and the Ivy celebrates the legends and customs associated with these age-old plants of Christmas. Each page is decorated with ivy garlands or holly sprigs that encircle bits of yuletide lore.

Norman Rockwell’s Christmas Book

This book collects stories, poems, carols, and recollections of Christmas by world-famous authors, such as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Hans Christian Andersen, and Lewis Carroll. It is illustrated with 120 of Norman Rockwell’s timeless images, including children sleigh-riding, families caroling, and Santa preparing for his big night. Round out your old-fashioned Christmas with dinner recipes from Fannie Merritt Farmer's 1896 cooking tome.

Old Christmas by Washington Irving

Old Christmas is an enchanting series of stories about Yuletide celebrations in 19th century England. Spend Christmas Eve coaching through the countryside where Irving meets his old traveling companion Frank Bracebridge, who invites him to attend Christmas Day festivities at his father's country estate. The descriptions of the village, church services, Christmas games and the amazing feast are delightful. These stories first appeared in Irving's "Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon" in the early 1800s.

An Old-time Christmas by Helen Steiner Rice & Virginia J. Ruehlmann

Enjoy poems, histories of such traditions as kissing under the mistletoe, and craft projects illustrated with vintage Victorian postcards. Be inspired to think more deeply about what Christmas means to you!

Sleigh Rides, Jingle Bells, and Silent Nights by Ronald D. Langford (new!)

Santa Claus, singing cowboys, love, hymns, satire, snow, Bing and Dean and Frank, fictional reindeer and warbling chipmunks: American Christmas music! Ronald reconciles the sacred and the profane in an easy narrative that both cherishes and illuminates the vast contradictions that adhere to December 25th in the U.S.A.!

The Victorian Christmas Book by Antony & Peter Miall

Diaries, novels, poems, letters, and magazines of the period contribute to a comprehensive survey of the customs, traditions, and flavor of Christmas in Victorian England, while greeting cards, toys, cartoons, advertisements, and engravings provide visual delight.

If you're looking for even more Christmas books:

Most of these books can be found in 398.2, along with many Christmas with Southern Living annuals and books about Christmas around the world.

Looking for holiday recipes? Visit 641.568.

Feeling crafty? You’ll find lots of project ideas in 745.5941.

Need the music or lyrics to your favorite carol? Find them in 782.28.

What to Read While Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Though it's probably a little too cold to hike the Appalachian Trail right now, perhaps these books will help you start planning your own hiking adventure so that you'll be ready to go when spring rolls around:

As Far as the Eye Can See by David Brill

Unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, recent college graduate David Brill chose to hike the Appalachian Trail in 1979.  Six months and 2,100 miles later he emerged a changed person, evolving from an inexperienced outdoorsman into a seasoned hiker.  This memoir chronicles the adversities and adventures of his trip.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

In an attempt to reconnect with America after living in Britain for 20 years, author Bill Bryson decided to hike the Appalachian Trail and record his experiences.  His narrative is both hilarious and insightful, filled with interesting historical facts, little-known trivia, and a cast of characters almost too zany to be believed.  You’ll want to lace up your hiking boots and set off down the trail by the time you’re done. 

Essays & Lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson

A contemporary of Henry David Thoreau, Emerson was one of the most important American thinkers of the 19th century.  His essay “Nature,” included in this volume, was highly influential in its linking of spirituality with the study of nature.  The philosophies espoused in Emerson’s works have been carried out by many a hiker.  

The Appalachian Trail Reader edited by David Emblidge

The Appalachian Trail Reader is a fascinating collection of essays, trail diaries, and poems written by a wide variety of authors, ranging from anonymous hikers to famous American literary figures like Walt Whitman and James Dickey.  Recommended for those interested in gaining a historical perspective of the AT.      

Hiking the Appalachian Trail edited by David Hare

This massive two volume collection compiles the stories of 46 men and women who have hiked the whole Appalachian Trail.  In addition to the stories, Hiking the Appalachian Trail contains practical advice on everything from menu and equipment suggestions to photography and bird watching tips, making it a must read for would-be hikers.   

Guide to Shenandoah National Park by Henry Heatwole

Not interested in hiking the entire trail?  Here’s a comprehensive guide to all of the great hiking spots located here in our own backyard.  About 90 miles of the AT run within Shenandoah National Park, and this book will help you select the hike that’s right for you.

Me and the Boy by Paul Hemphill

When Hemphill set out to hike the entire AT with his 19-year-old son, he had little idea of what an intense bonding experience it would be for the two of them.  Poignant and emotional, Me and the Boy is a fine account of a journey marked by painful revelations and, ultimately, powerful healing.

In Beauty May She Walk by Leslie Mass

Think you’re too old to hike the Appalachian Trail?  Your opinion might change after reading In Beauty May She Walk, the inspirational story of a 60-year-old woman who thru-hikes the entire AT.  Mass honestly portrays the difficulties and struggles she faced on her grueling journey, while also conveying the great sense of achievement she felt upon completion.

Time For Everything by George Meek
Virginia author George Meek recommends “section-hiking” as a great way to hike the AT.  In contrast to the strenuous pace set by thru-hikers, section-hikers take a more relaxed journey by dividing the trail into portions that can be covered over several years. In Time For Everything, Meek draws from his own six-year section-hike to give valuable pointers to the novice.

AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller
Miller perfectly captures what it is like to be a thru-hiker, or someone who hikes the entire trail from end-to-end in one continuous journey.  Taking the name “AWOL” (most thu-hikers adopt a trail name), Miller quits his job to fulfill his dream.  He vividly describes the physical struggles, such as hiking through injuries, and the profound sense of community that is fostered between thru-hikers. 

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
Solnit tackles a seemingly mundane subject with style and intelligence, introducing many thought-provoking ideas about walking.  From its examination of the many reasons why people walk to its look at the impact of automobiles and urbanization on walking for pleasure, Wanderlust will make you rethink an activity you probably take for granted.    

Walden by  Henry David Thoreau
Walden is a must read for anyone interested in “getting back to nature.” It tells of Thoreau’s two year stint of solitary living at Walden Pond in the  1840s, where his motto was “Simplify, simplify.”  Check out Thoreau’s book The Maine Woods to read about his adventure climbing Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

Walking Home by Kelly Winters

For Kelly Winters the AT represented “not a physical place, but an emotional, psychological, spiritual one.”  Grappling with her identity and sexual orientation, Winters uses her six month thru-hike as a pilgrimage to discover the authentic self she’s long kept subdued.

Read-alike Guides - Downton Abbey

I meant to finish this list ages ago, but I kept finding new things to add! So by now you’ve probably seen the shocking season three finale and heard that a fourth season is in the works. What to do until then? Try reading one of the many entertaining novels or enlightening non-fiction titles listed here. If you prefer something to watch, that list is coming soon!

Fiction

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

This novel from the American perspective could be Lady Grantham's back story. The American Heiress remolds the true life of wealthy debutante Consuelo Vanderbilt into the fictional adventures of Cora Cash, the beautiful, vivacious reigning heiress of her time. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the proper pedigree to marry into New York society, so she heads to England instead. Cora's many American dollars and fresh American spirit capture the attention of one of England's most eligible—and impoverished—titled bachelors.

Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide

This saga of the upstairs and downstairs residents of an English country house spans more than two centuries and includes the stories of its original architect, soldiers billeted in the house during World War I, and a young couple who restores the house in the 1950s. Like Downton Abbey, Ashenden Park is based on an actual estate in Berkshire, England. This beautifully written debut novel takes the reader on a pilgrimage through the ups and downs of human nature, all within the walls of one historic English mansion.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

In 1935 England, 13-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses an event involving her sister Cecilia and her childhood friend Robbie Turner, and she becomes the victim of her own imagination, accusing Robbie of a heinous crime. As the Tallis family is wealthy and Robbie is the cleaning lady’s son, class distinction plays a significant role in the proceedings. For those interested in the facts of war, the descriptions of Robbie’s experiences in France during WWII and the Tallis girls nursing soldiers in London are grimly realistic. Atonement was made into an Academy Award-nominated film in 2007.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Readers who are entranced by the sweeping Anglo sagas of Masterpiece Theatre will devour the historical drama of Birdsong. The book's hero, a 20-year-old Englishman named Stephen Wraysford, finds his true love on a trip to Amiens in 1910. Later, he is haunted by this doomed affair and carries it with him into the trenches of World War I. Birdsong derives most of its power from its descriptions of mud and blood, and Wraysford's attempt to retain a scrap of humanity while surrounded by it. The BBC dramatized this novel in a two-part mini-series.

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

Bess finds herself back in London, on leave from her nursing duties on the World War I battlefields of France. During a memorial for a friend's brother-in-law, Bess becomes embroiled in the family's disagreements and secrets. When one of the houseguests, a wounded soldier, is found murdered, the police cast their suspicion on everyone—including Bess herself. She must search from Sussex all the way to war-torn France to discover the bitter truth about a soldier's death not on the battlefield but on the home front. Few writers surpass Todd in depicting the insanity of war.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

A prolific satirist, Waugh chronicled the lives of the British upper classes. Here, he examines the wealthy Flyte family through the eyes of Sebastian Flyte's less wealthy school friend Charles Ryder, who is eventually tempted into an extramarital affair with Sebastian's sister, Lady Julia. The novel is a story of faith and disillusionment in a glamorous upper-class world, a sweeping family saga spanning two world wars and detailing loves, losses, and friendships  Brideshead is the Flyte’s stately home.

The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton

Just about anything by Wharton will make the wait for Season 4 go by just a bit faster! Wharton made a career from careful observations of the upper class and how money, position, and marriage can shape lives, not necessarily for the better. The Buccaneers is another novel with hints of Lady Grantham’s back story.  It follows the fortunes of the five beautiful nouveau riche St. George girls, who sail to England in the 1870s and marry into the aristocracy after being denied a place in New York Society. For more Wharton, try The House of Mirth.

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt

When children’s book author Olive Wellwood’s son discovers a runaway named Philip in the basement of a museum, she takes him into the storybook world of her family. But the joyful bacchanals Olive hosts at her country house—and the private books she writes for each of her children—conceal more treachery and darkness than Philip has ever imagined. The Wellwoods’ personal struggles and hidden desires unravel against a backdrop of the shores of England to Paris, Munich, and the trenches of the Somme, as the Edwardian period dissolves into World War I and Europe’s golden era comes to an end.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

You may remember a scene early in season two of Downton in which Molesley (valet to Mathew) suggests to Anna that they read and discuss Elizabeth and Her German Garden. Although Anna declined the offer, this was a popular novel in that time. Its author would later write the best seller The Enchanted April, in which four women find each other—and the Italian castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper. The ladies expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy. Now, if the same transformation can be worked on their husbands and lovers, the enchantment will be complete.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Follett traces the fates of five interrelated families—American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh—from different walks of life as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. Set during the upheaval of WWI and the years following, this compelling and character-driven novel is the first in a planned trilogy that will follow five families from different walks of life, from the mines of Wales to the Russian revolution.

Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier

If Edwardian England is the place you want to be, try this book of manners and social divisions. Chevalier captures not only the progressive spirit of post-Victorian England but also its conventions, such as the preoccupation with death and the impossibly mature voices of young children. Maude and Lavinia meet in a graveyard the day after Queen Victoria’s death and the two girls become fast friends, despite their different social classes. The girls’ friendship endures, and they continue to meet in the graveyard, keeping company with Simon, the son of a gravedigger.
 

Flirting with Destiny by Sarah Hylton

In 1914, four privileged young women leave school and prepare to embark on their new adult lives, but as war breaks out, they must adjust to a different world and face the difficult years ahead. None of the girls has had any training that is helpful to the war effort, so each must learn to cope with the new world in her own fashion. One becomes a nurse but is resented for her station in life. Two struggle to adapt when the men they were to marry go to war. The last develops a reputation for being fast. How each vulnerable young woman learns to deal with the changes war brings reveals her true character for better or worse.

Habits of the House by Fay Weldon

The award-winning writer for Upstairs Downstairs borrows heavily from both Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs in the first in her trilogy about Edwardian Britain. The series traces the shared lives of masters and servants at the turn of the 20th century, following the family life of Cabinet hopeful Lord Robert, who hopes to alleviate financial woes by marrying his son to a disgraced Chicago heiress. Weldon begins her novel over 10 years earlier than the two TV series, but the dramatic elements are the same: a wealthy family and its servants reacting to social, economic, and political changes.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

I think I remember reading that this novel is based on the same journals that Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs were based on, but now I can’t find that information again! In any case, many Downton Abbey devotees love the drama between and within the classes and are likely to enjoy this lively story of a proper English housemaid and her unusual relationship with the daughters of the family. All three women witness the death of a noted poet one glittering summer evening at a house party in 1924. Almost 70 years later, Grace, the former housemaid, tells the truth about the incident.

The House of Eliott by Jean Marsh

Based on the BBC series (1991-1994) she coauthored (as she did the Emmy-winning Upstairs Downstairs), Marsh's first novel is an exuberant, glittering romp through London in the early 1920s. Following the death of their apparently affluent physician father, Evangeline and Beatrice Eliott discover they have inherited nothing but the gloomy Victorian Gothic house they inhabit. They decide to open a dressmaking shop because they have too little money to survive without a steady income.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Looking to live the English country life? This lovely coming-of-age story illustrates the blurring of class lines as the Edwardian upper class faded away. The narrator, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, describes her family, all stuck in a castle that's falling down, with minimal food and no amenities. Imagine their excitement when a family of wealthy Americans (with two sons of marriageable age) moves into the estate next door. Set in the 1930s, I Capture the Castle was originally published in 1948 (and is by the author of The 101 Dalmatians, if you’re curious).

The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn

In July of 1914, innocent, lovely Clarissa Granville lives with her parents and three brothers in the idyllic isolation of Deyning Park, a grand English country house, where she whiles away her days enjoying house parties, country walks and tennis matches. Clarissa is drawn to Tom Cuthbert, the housekeeper's son. Though her parents disapprove of the upstairs-downstairs friendship, a deep and tender romance still blooms. Soon the winds of war come to Deyning and Tom prepares to join the front lines. Neither he nor Clarissa can imagine how their love will be tested or how they will treasure the memory of this last, perfect summer.

The Light Years by Jane Elizabeth Howard

A rich domestic drama arises from the pages of Howard's captivating novel, set in England in 1937 and 1938. The Cazalets are an upper-crust London family—William and Rachel Cazalet, their three grown sons, and the sons' wives and children. As the novel opens, the extended family is undertaking its summer relocation to the country house in Sussex. During the course of this summer and the next, readers become witness to the public and private selves of the individual family members. Beguilingly, those selves are often at odds.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Waters reflects on the collapse of the British class system after WWII through an eerie haunted house tale. Dr. Faraday is called to Hundreds Hall, home of the upper-class Ayreses, now fallen on hard times. Ostensibly there to treat Roderick Ayres for a war injury, Faraday soon sees signs of mental decline—first in Roderick and later in his mother. The skeptical Faraday refuses to accept the explanations of Roderick and the maid, who believe that there is a supernatural presence in the house. This spooky read has the added pleasure of detailing postwar village life, with its rationing, social strictures, and gossip, all on the edge of Britain's massive change to a social state.

Love and War: An Upstairs Downstairs Saga by Anne Herries

Life for the residents of Trenwith Hall will never be the same when war is declared, as Luke Trenwith and groomsman Jack Barlow both leave to fight in the trenches. Jack is injured in France and loses his memory. When he regains it, will he return to England or stay behind with his new love and be thought a deserter? Jack’s sister Rose volunteers as a hospital aide and thinks fondly of Luke, heir to Trenwith Hall, but marries a young officer instead. When her husband is shot down, she is alone—believing that her brother is dead. Luke keeps the truth of her brother's situation a secret as well as his longing for his former maid.

Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Eldest of the Mitford daughters, Nancy used her aristocratic and somewhat eccentric upbringing to write novels. This one is the classic comedy of upper crust English manners and mores on the subject of love between the Wars. Polly Hampton has long been groomed for the perfect marriage by her mother, Lady Montdore. But Polly is bored by the monotony of her glittering debut season in London. Having just come from India, she claims to have hoped that society in a colder climate would be less obsessed with love affairs. She has a long-held secret, however, which leads to the shattering of her mother’s dreams and her own disinheritance.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

If you enjoy the exploration of the effects of WWI on society, you might like this series set in the 1920s and ’30s. Its heroine—once a maid in a great house, now a private investigator—personifies the changing times and takes on cases that are rooted in the damage done by the war. Maisie Dobbs entered domestic service in 1910 at 13, working for Lady Rowan Compton. When her remarkable intelligence is discovered by her employer, Maisie becomes the pupil of Maurice Blanche, a learned friend of the Comptons. In 1929, Maisie hangs out her shingle: M. Dobbs, Trade and Personal Investigations.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf's novel follows a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper class married Englishwoman, whose inner life exists in a state of continuous tension. She is torn between the boring conventional existence she has chosen to lead and thoughts of what might have been, had she accepted the marriage proposal of the Bohemian Peter Walsh. But Walsh too, has his doubts, and Woolf shows that all her characters, despite making radically different life-choices, are ultimately left uneasy and questioning of their role and existence. Outwardly self-assured, inwardly despairing, Mrs. Dalloway symbolizes upper class English Society, of which the novel is, in part, a critique.

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

The lives of two very different couples—an officer and his aristocratic wife and a young soldier and his childhood sweetheart—are irrevocably intertwined and forever changed in this WWI epic of love and war. The aristocrats, Peter and Julia Locke, are lovely and well-placed until their relationship disintegrates under the pressure of war and changing conventions. Working class Riley and Nadine are hampered before the war by the very upper crustiness that the Lockes embody, but are later more free to love each other and better suited for survival by their modernity and openness. This novel moves from London to Paris and Ypres.

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

My Man Jeeves is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Who can forget our beloved gentleman's personal gentleman, Jeeves, who always comes to the rescue when the hapless Bertie Wooster falls into trouble? The Jeeves series is sure to please anyone with a taste for moronic misunderstandings, gaffes, and aristocratic slapstick. Wodehouse’s witty banter between the buffoonish Bertie Wooster and his impeccably competent manservant Jeeves is a perfect fit for fans of the Dowager Countess’s perfectly-timed one-liners. (Available as an Overdrive ebook only.)

No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry

This is the debut novel in Perry's five-book series about a British family during World War I. The family in question includes brothers Matthew and Joseph Reavley and sisters Judith and Hannah, whose parents are killed in a car accident. Their father had been on his way to deliver a document of supposed national importance, but Matthew, a trusted employee in the Intelligence Service, can't quite believe that the document could really threaten Britain's honor. Meanwhile, Joseph, an ordained minister and teacher of classical languages at Cambridge, struggles with the senseless murder of his brilliant protégé. Set during the idyllic summer of 1914, the novel portrays a world about to be torn apart by war.

Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford

Parade’s End has been adapted by BBC/HBO and will premiere on February 26. (It already aired in the UK, where it was a big hit.) In fact, it has been called “Downton Abbey for Grownups” (Salon) and “The Better Downton Abbey” (The New Yorker). The book is a compilation of four novels which tell the terrifying story of a good man tortured, pursued, driven into revolt, and ruined as far as the world is concerned by the clever devices of a jealous and lying wife. War turns the world of privileged, English aristocrat Christopher Tietjens upside down and forces him to question everything he holds dear.

Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes

If it's the foibles of high society that you Downton Abbey viewers find most appealing, then the works of Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes are must-reads. Fellowes' second novel, Past Imperfect, is a contemporary tale that looks back on the London of the Swinging Sixties while one friend searches for the lost heir of another friend-turned-foe. Droll humor mixed with suspense and an acute eye for historical detail are hallmarks of Fellowes' writing. Also try his book Snobs, which is set in the present but contains characters of the same type. Think Cousin Violet.

Regeneration by Pat Barker

The first in a trilogy based on a true story, Regeneration depicts the psychological effects of the war on surviving soldiers. In 1917, decorated British officer and poet Siegfried Sassoon wrote a declaration condemning the war. Instead of a court-martial, he was sent to a hospital for “shell-shocked” officers where he was treated by Dr. William Rivers, noted anthropologist and psychiatrist. Sassoon's complete sanity disturbs Dr. Rivers to the point that he questions his own role in “curing” patients only to send them back to the slaughter in France. WWI decimated an entire generation of men, and the horrifying loss of life and the callousness of the government led to the obliteration of the Victorian ideal. Barker has written many novels about this time period—also try her newest, Toby’s Room.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro is known for his character-driven, thoughtful, and occasionally funny fiction, and this story of the snobby, dignity obsessed Stevens is no exception. Set shortly after WWII, this Man Booker-winning novel parallels Downton Abbey’s more somber moments in the depiction of a devoted servant in one of England’s declining manor houses. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness” and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served. 

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

This Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters. A charming young English woman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Brit when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza. Attracted to this man, George Emerson—who is entirely unsuitable and whose father may be a Socialist—Lucy is soon at war with the snobbery of her class and her own conflicting desires. Back in England she is courted by a more acceptable, if stifling, suitor, and soon realizes she must make a decision that will decide the course of her future: she is forced to choose between fulfilling her social role or following her heart. Also try Forster’s Howards End.

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

This is a country estate drama with prewar ambience, manor-house mystique, and sexual tension. Embraced by the family of his Cambridge schoolmate, Cecil Valance writes an inspiring poem that becomes a staple of every English classroom after he is killed during WWI. The poem, created as an autograph book keepsake for his friend’s younger sister, Daphne, becomes the subject of speculation for biographers and the generations that follow, as it contains hints about what might have happened during the visit. The novel moves through the decades, following the family fortunes of Daphne and her progeny, and the events of that less tolerant era are viewed through an ever-cloudier lens.

Non-fiction

The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund (640.3 Eng)

 Leading Swedish historian Englund allows 20 individuals during WWI to convey their experiences through diaries and letters: among them, an English nurse in the Russian army, a British infantryman awarded the Victoria Cross, a German seaman, and a Venezuelan cavalryman in the Ottoman army. Englund’s collation provides insights into more than the carnage. For example, a French infantryman at Verdun knows, despite lower figures in newspaper reports, that he went into battle with 100 men and only 30 returned. Lacking only a Turkish Muslim view, this book fleshes out the grim statistics of the Great War.

Below Stairs by Margaret Powell (Bio Powell Margaret)

Fascinated by class distinctions? This is the account of the kitchen maid who inspired Upstairs Downstairs. In this memoir, Margaret tells her tales of service with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye. From the gentleman with a penchant for stroking housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Below Stairs evokes the long vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs.”

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by Fiona, Countess of Carnarvon (942.2 Car)

Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon tells the story of Highclere Castle (the real-life inspiration for Downton Abbey) and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina (the 5th Countess of Carnarvon and the basis of the fictional character Lady Cora Crawley). Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman. This tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of the Great War.