Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey

A dynamic performance by Wanda McCaddon brings the real Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle, to life in this marvelous audiobook. Whether she's describing catastrophic events or everyday occurrences in the lives of the Carnarvons, McCaddon delivers. She captures the essence of Lady Catherine and her family and friends and infuses each of them--and there are many-- with individuality as they unfold in her accomplished presentation. Listeners hear Winston Churchill's booming voice and Lady Catherine's subtly nuanced expressions as if they're privy to their real-life conversations. McCaddon's engaging portraits of the characters will have listeners waiting for the next installment in this riveting social history of a time and place we'll never see the likes of again. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

November 18, 2013
This follow-up to the well-received Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey is an excellent depiction of English aristocratic life, notably of the 6th Earl of Carnarvon and his wife, Lady Catherine, during the years leading up to and during WWII. A "flirtatious and fun" beauty, American-born Catherine Wendell married Lord Porchester, nicknamed Porchey, who became the 6th Earl of Carnarvon after his father, a renowned Egyptologist credited with discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun, died in 1923. Catherine and Porchey partied during the carefree Roaring â20s with other British nobility until the war encroached, bringing air raids, crumbling infrastructure, death and food shortages; their home, Highclere Castle, became a sanctuary for London's young children, and its expansive propertyâa troop training ground. Masterpiece Theater's Downton Abbey is Highclere Castle's fictional "alter ego"; much of the 8th (and current) Countess of Carnarvon's genealogical and historical researchâdiaries, letters, and photographsâis from Highclere's archives, which create a compelling portrait of the era's lives, deaths, politics, scandals and the war's impact on Porchey and Catherine's family. Lady Carnarvon's narrative is a vivid time-stamp of a tempestuous period in history, aptly incorporating its political situation and social structure, to satisfy history buffs and Anglophiles.