A Countess Below Stairs

A Countess Below Stairs

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83  ·  rating details  ·  9,777 ratings  ·  1,174 reviews
After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian Countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination.

Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is...more
Paperback, 383 pages
Published May 10th 2007 by Speak (first published May 10th 1981)
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Jennifer Wardrip
Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

Anna Grazinsky is a member of the Russian aristocracy, or White Russians, during the Russian Revolution. Her family is forced to flee from their comfortable life in Russia to England, where they are safe from the revolutionaries. But in England, the Grazinskys are left with nothing. Anna has a very resilient spirit, and instead of moping around and wishing for her old life, she is grateful for the safety of her family and secretly takes a job as a mai...more
Claire Scott
I love Eva Ibbotson, and I nearly always think her characters are delightful and her stories lovely. That was true for this book as well. I frequently recommend her books to my enthusiastic readers and to parents reading aloud with their elementary-aged children. She's my favorite of all the authors I've discovered in the last few years.

But I couldn't help my stomach churning at the unnecessarily nasty descriptions of the unpleasant family, the Herrings... these descriptions depended almost com...more
Rachel Romeo
This is a good romance novel without being too mushy, or containing a lot of raunchy scenes. It's about how a young Russian Countess flees to England after the Russian Revolution and earns her keep as a servant for a wealthy family. She tries to keep her past from her employers and their very attractive son, the Earl of Westerholme who is engaged to be married. His future wife believes in the science of Eugenics and only in procreating "the perfect species." Needless to say, there is an attracti...more
Chandra
Anna Grazinsky is a young Russian countess forced to flee her home country during the Russian Revolution. Once in England the spirited young lady nobly takes a position as a servant to earn money for her newly impoverished family. It doesn’t take long for Anna to charm her fellow servants, as well as the noble family 'above stairs' – including the dashing young Earl of Westerholme. Too bad he’s already engaged to the gorgeous and wealthy heiress Muriel Hardwicke. Beyond the obvious love triangle...more
Fiona
With Eva Ibbotson, you can expect one thing: A fluffy feel-good read. I don't usually like fluffy reads, with Ibbotson I make an exception.

The good guys are always perfect, golden-hued flawless people who are gorgeous. The bad guys are usually horrible but never really truly evil. Everyone gets their happy ending.

That is what you get with Eva Ibbotson. She does it in the more forgiveable way. Each of her books are layered with cultural tit-bits, mostly musical. Many of her YA stories usually inv...more
Cassie
This book was one of those predictable, fluffy books that is still somehow a charm to read because of the language and characters. The heroine is too good, the rival is too evil and silly, but I found myself enjoying every page anyway. The portrayal of Russian royalty on the run from the Russian Revolution is absolutely believable, and Ibbotson’s descriptions make the world come alive. Russian history and culture are things I never really studied, but have always been interested in, so I found t...more
Angie
What wordy, frothy fun Ibbotson's books are. Perfect going on a trip books. In fact, reading them makes me wish I was going somewhere, as her heroines always seem to be off somewhere new and exciting and exotic. But since I am not going anywhere (exotic or otherwise) in the near future, getting lost in them has proved a wonderful balm for my It's mid-March and Still Snowing blues.

Anna is a Russian countess whose family is forced to flee their wealth and their home after her father is killed in t...more
Cara Marie
This was just lovely. I've never read Eva Ibbotson before, apart from the more junior Which Week?, and I really enjoyed it.

It was quite slow to get into, and written quite formally, but being as it was set at the beginning of the 20th century, it was appropriate. The story itself is quite old-fashioned, and also a genuinely heartwarming romance. I cried.

It was also well constructed: things would be mentioned that helped save the day later, without feeling unnatural. It was nice to have such a...more
Haley
Cute storyline. I liked the story being told in so many different points of view, and also that not much is told from Anna's and Rupert's point of view. In this way the author shows you how they fell in love. Again, love the vocabulary the author uses in her novels, and also that it is a completely clean romance, but also so much more than a romance story. I loved all the different characters!
Suna
I am emotionally winded by this book in the best possible way!

Whether it's the time of year and the bitter winter snow outside that made this book hit the spot the way it did I'm not certain.

But the poetic language, the sheer romanticism, the wit, the Shakespearean farce element, the astute social, historical, cultural, sexual, racial and class observations were all perfectly balanced to create one of the most richly feel-good romances I've read in years.

I've always admired Eva Ibbotson for hitt...more
Adrienne
The only reason it's 2 stars is because it was a semi-interesting plot. However...

HOLY COMMAS, BATMAN!

The woman does not know how to write a normal sentence unless it's dialogue. She'd have these sentences with about 10 (no joke, I counted one) modifying phrases all contained within commas. It was so distracting that when I finally got around to the end of the original thought, I couldn't remember what she was talking about. So I'd have to read the beginning of the sentence, skip the crud in com...more
Meg - A Bookish Affair
This was my first bout with Eva Ibbotson. I had heard a lot of good things about her books (thanks to my fellow book bloggers!) so I was excited to finally get a chance to read one and see what the buzz was all about.

The book was sort of a mixed bag for me. I think I am beginning to discover that I like my historical fiction based in a little bit of actual history. I like there to be historical figures present. I like there to be real events involved. In this book, the heroine, Anna, does indee...more
Chelsea
Oh, Eva, we are going to get along just fine.

I was a little disappointed by the last Ibbotson book I read (A Song For Summer), but this one was far better, and a return to A Company of Swans, which I adored.

It's a sweet, fun, fluffy book with a bit of a Cinderella feel to it. Probably not the most realistic take on England between the World Wars, and certainly not the most realistic when it comes to penniless Russian nobility living in exile, but you know what? It was charming and old fashioned,...more
Bronte
Okay. This book was kind of a dissapointment to me. I felt really disconeccted from the story and like it was to narrarative. Like the author was telling the story herself, not through her charecters.

I felt like I was getting a lot of uneccissery information about every body. And nothing was really developing in you mind as you read it, but it was all piled on you all at the same time. Like every time some one new came into the story, everything stopped while the author gave a biography on this...more
Clare
Apr 16, 2009 Clare rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone and everyone
Recommended to Clare by: myself
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Tommi
This book had a really cute story about a girl from Russia that goes to London after a nanny steals all their money and leaves her family poor. In London to make ends meet she decides to become a maid servant for a Rupert The Earl of Westerholm. The Earl has little money left and must face selling Mersham manor unless he marries a wealthy woman to keep it afloat. He becomes engaged to Muriel, a wealthy orphan who is quite obsessed with eugenics. Rupert's plans to marry Muriel are honorable and m...more
Michelle
A sweet love story about a displaced Russian Countess, Anna and an English Earl set on marrying a (horrid) heiress to save his family seat. I am a sucker for all things Russian so I loved Anna and her efforts to become an able housemaid.

As usual, Ibbotson has created a set of unusual and extremely interesting cast of secondary characters that I would love to hear more about. I mean a body-building footman?! Who wouldn't want to hear his story? I think I could read her books if only for those wh...more
Allison (The Allure of Books)
Sometimes its good to read something purely for FUN, to remind yourself what reading is all about - enjoying yourself. That is exactly what you get with this one. The ending is, of course, predictable...but the journey to get there is so fun (and at times maddening)!

Muriel, the "other woman" is ridiculous and cold-hearted, a little girl that lives in a neighboring home, 'Honorable Olive' will have your heart twisted in to knots, and...ALL the characters are just so fresh and enjoyable, no matte...more
Corinne
As the daughter of a Countess, Anna has a fairy-tale upbringing in Russia, living a dream life with no wants and the adoration of her family and social circle. With the Revolution, however, comes the kind of change that could break a weak person, and Anna ends up in England, penniless, with nothing but her own will and a handbook on British houskeeping. So, she goes into service and in the house of the Earl of Westerholme, and Anna's natural abililty and desire to remain anonymous create a new s...more
Eustacia Tan
I love Eva Ibbotson! Ever since I read Journey to the River Sea, I've been in love with her works. And this is no exception.

A Countess Below the Stairs is like The Star of Kazan in the sense that the protagonists are nobility that have somehow become servants. In this book, Anna is a Russian Countess who has lost all her wealth in the revolution. In order to support her family (they escaped to England), she becomes a maid, and learning from a book called, well I forgot but it's outdated and the...more
Rosalyn
I try to save gushing reviews for more literary books, but I have to admit that I really adored this book--and it will likely go on my "to re-read soon" shelf. It's an escapist book, but it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Anna and her family, Russian nobility, flee to England after the 1917 revolution. Penniless and desperate to find work, Anna accepts a job with the Earl of Westerholme's family as a house maid. Although the butler and housekeeper suspect Anna's noble background, they give...more
Beth Bonini
So often in Eva Ibbotson's novels there is a displacement, a shift in circumstances, which forces the protagonist to seek out a new home. The German take-over of Vienna in the 1930s forced Eva from her own ancestral home, and this was obviously a theme which never lost its emotional potency for her. In this novel, World War I and the Russian Revolution are the historical background. Anna, a young Russian countess, (and much-beloved by all who know her), becomes an émigrée in England. When her tr...more
Lois Bujold
I enjoyed this... familiar romance tropes, but intelligently applied, and with a keen sense of time and place and detail from an angle less and less known, I suspect, to many younger 21st C. American readers. The tale does not feel to me to be about events of a whole century ago, but I realize somewhat bemusedly that they now are. The social setting, actually utterly alien-to-me in real life, is, as they say, still strangely familiar from dozens of beloved books, both from the period or attempti...more
Angelene
My daughter got this book for her birthday and it looked good and I was so excited to read it. It took me so long to get through the first half. I was so disappointed. It was actually hard to follow and understand what was going on at times. Eventually it picked up and was a very entertaining at parts. I was so tempted at many times to stop reading but wanted to give it a fair shot. At times I couldn't believe that this book was geared for younger readers because it was so slow and hard to follo...more
Michele
Taking place in post-WW I England, Anna and her royal family have escaped Bolshevist Russia and are forced to start over again in a foreign country. A sweet, historical romance, it is told from the view of multiple characters including Rupert, the young Earl of Westerholme, who is trying to keep his family manor afloat; his wealthy fiancee Muriel, who nursed him back to health after a war injury and is much more interested in his title that she is in him; the Honorable Olive, a seven-year-old ne...more
Alison
The only reason I gave this book a two instead of a one is because despite the horrible writing style, I still managed to want to read it through to the end. The story, although very predictable, was cute and happily ending, as to be expected. Also, the fact that I am currently very into the tv show Downton Abbey kept me reading, as I used a lot of imagery from the show to imagine Westerholme and it's inner workings. However, if grammar and sentence structure matter greatly to you, I would not r...more
Alex
When the revolution hits Russia, Anna’s family doesn’t fare well: her father dies in battle, her mother is torn by grief and yet tries to do the best she can, and they are all in danger. Soon Anna and her family find themselves making the long journey to England – with the help of Anna’s governess – determined to make a new home for themselves.

There is only one problem: money, and the lack thereof. Anna’s family lost almost everything in the revolution and the few jewels they had left were lost....more
Amy
Oct 28, 2011 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Amy by: Emily
Book deprivation is a very bad thing. It causes people to do crazy things…like, reading till 4:44 am on a Thursday night because they haven’t had fiction in their hands for such a long time. Which may or may not have just happened to me.
Be warned! If you’re sending your kid off to college, or are going to college, keep them/yourself at least occasionally supplied with something mindless!!! The repercussions are scary and may involve falling asleep in class the next day.

Plot
Once upon a time i...more
Liz B
4.5 stars

Oh, I really liked this book. I knew Eva Ibbotson only as an author of kids' fantasy, but I came across a blog post that referred to her romances, and I bought this one on impulse. I'm so glad I did. It's hard to point to why, exactly; maybe it's because it embodies the characterization of romance as fantasy. Not that this is speculative fiction, by any means--but it really does feel like a fairy tale, where the magic is found in the ordinary goodness of people.

It's one of my favorite h...more
Parvathy
Jul 23, 2011 Parvathy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: romance readers, feel good book lovers
Recommended to Parvathy by: goodreads
It is the same repetitive formula which has been encountered in entertainment from time on. The English lord in this case an Earl, the kind and spirited housemaid and a disgruntled, cruel fiancee and an ever supporting and lovable background characters. Yes, the same old stuff but what makes this one worth a read is the way in which this same old story is presented. Eva Ibbotson's writing is very imaginative and captures one's attention from the very first page. Her description of simple unimpor...more
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The Secret Countess (Paperback)
The Secret Countess (Kindle Edition)
The Secret Countess. Eva Ibbotson (Audio CD)
A Countess Below Stairs (Paperback)
A Countess Below Stairs (Mass Market Paperback)

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Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler came into power, Ibbotson's family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduat...more
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“And so they played some of the world's loveliest piano music - the exiled homesick girl, the humiliated, tired old man. Not properly. Better than that.” 63 people liked it
“She's like snow in Russian," said Anna. "Snow in the evening when the sun sets and it looks like Alpengluhen, you know? And if snow had a scent it would smell like that [the rose]....” 57 people liked it
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