This is a fun read for young adults who are looking for the same type of upstairs downstairs drama that Downtown Abbey provides. The book follows the coming of age stories of sisters Maggie and Lila Darlington at Wentworth Hall in 1912. We also get a taste of the below stairs lives of the young servants who grew up together in the house and played together with the Darlingtons as children.

The Edwardian period marks the peak of a thousand years of wealth through land, and as we see at Wentworth Abbey, times were beginning to change with land loosing value and self made men with new money appearing on the horizon.

Since entertaining played a large part of the lifestyle of the Edwardians I was disappointed that there weren't more dining scenes, and I am not sure if the family would have kept bagels in the freezer for a teething baby unless they were Jewish. But minor picky points from a foodie historian.

The most enjoyable part of the book was the satirical "Gossip Girl" satirical accounts written about the Worthless Family which mysteriously appeared in the local paper. So may questions in this book, who wrote the scandalous accounts, who is keeping secrets, and what will become of them all?

A good first effort for Abby Grahame and hope that she will be encouraged to produce more great Edwardian fiction to help younger generations understand what it was like to live in that period.