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Snobs: a novel

Snobs: a novel

by JulianFellowes (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2004

    $4.24

  • Used

    Paperback 2009

    $3.28
Synopsis

SNOBS is the story of Edith Lavery, who earns a living answering the telephone in a Chelsea-based estate agents. She is the attractive only child of a comfortably-off accountant. When she attends Royal Ascot as a guest of friends, she meets bachelor Charles Broughton, who as Earl Broughton and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, is a gossip-column favourite. He proposes, she accepts - and here is the crux of the story: is she really in love with Charles or with his title and all that goes with it? The story is narrated by a journeyman character actor who comfortably moves among the upper and middle classes, while observing their foibles. Superbly observed, the story includes a fabulous character in Charles's mother, Lady Uckfield, known as 'Googie', who wants for her son the daughter of a peer from the old, familiar world she knows and trusts. She perceives Edith to be a young woman on the make, and is vindicated when Edith, now Countess Broughton, falls for a blonde good-looking actor. Fellowes resolves his story with twists and turns aplenty. This is a tale worthy of a contemporary Jane Austen with a dash of Evelyn Waugh.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 320
 Edition: 01
 Publisher: W&N
Published: 05 Apr 2004
ISBN 10: 0297848763
ISBN 13: 9780297848769
Book Overview: Julian Fellowes - as Oscar-winning screenwriter and actor Leading actor in BBC series Monarch of the Glen SNOBS is a lead W&N fiction title for 2004 American rights sold for more than quarter of a million dollars

Media Reviews
Julian Fellowes is just marvellous at celebrating the subtle slights that lie beneath aristocratic conversation. Reading his novel SNOBS is a guilty pleasure, owing not just to its bouncy plot, but also to the suspicion that Mr Fellowes knows the territory well. -- John Walsh * HARPERS AND QUEEN *
A delicious comedy of manners on the nuances of English social life, which raises laughter and an occasional wince of recognition. -- Clare Colvin * DAILY MAIL *
This provocative, titillating and seductive novel.......Julian Fellowes tells this anachronistic morality tale with such wit, verve, elegance and shadenfreude that it never loses momentum. -- Andrew Barrow * THE SPECTATOR *
'sparklingly rompish......... the world that Fellowes describes is an unchanging one: that of the landed aristocracy, whose wish since the beginning of time (or at least, since the beginning of titles), is to mix only with their own kind.... Fellowes is a delectable guide to its absurdities. -- Penny Perrick * SUNDAY TIMES *
'a good, fresh, read.... Fellowes has an excellent eye for detail..... Fellowes uses a light dusting of satire to help us enjoy our own snobbery without choking on chippiness. -- Mary Wakefield * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
deliciously waspish satire.... SNOBS is terrific entertainment, deepened by the sad ache of truth -- Lucy Beresford * LITERARY REVIEW *
'The Gosford Park writer's wry look at the English class system is an entertaining dabble in Debrett's. -- Andrea Henry * THE MIRROR *
a delicious contemporary comedy of manners - but it's the spiky Emma Woodhouse-style asides which make SNOBS so irresistible. -- John Koski * YOU MAGAZINE *
Fellowes's attractive, faintly cynical voice has overtones of Trollope, Waugh and Mitford.... this deft entertaining novel.... -- Philip Hoare * INDEPENDENT *
'A deliciously entertaining novel.' * STAR MAGAZINE *
the author of Gosford Park has written a novel so horribly compelling that anyone attempting to read if in the lav would cause a riot on the landing. -- Jane Shilling * THE TIMES *
An affectionate expose from the author of GOSFORD PARK, it reveals the sensibilities of today's dwindling upper classes, and the infiltration of their ranks by the new elite - celebrity hangers-on. * REAL *
It is one of those books one imagines being sent up to Balmoral, come September, where it will be proclaimed divinely funny and quite amazingly true to life. -- Catherine Bennett * THE GUARDIAN *
Fellowes has a nice epigrammatic style. He conjures characters deftly, and although the story is slight, it's sufficient to make the reader want to turn the page. -- Chris Paling * New Humanist *
The style is langorous, elegant and measured ... this absorbing book ... the finely crafted characters ... a riveting social history ... a gripping novel by someone with effortless grasp of character and dialogue that invites comparison with Evelyn Waugh ... his fine honed abilities as a storyteller.' -- Tim Lott * THE EVENING STANDARD *
He is first of all, a true stylist. The prose is good, lucid and polished without painful overwriting. -- Edward Pearce * TRIBUNE *
Author Bio
Julian Fellowes, actor, writer, producer, was educated at Ampleforth, Magdalene College, Cambridge and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He trained in repertory theatre at Northampton and Harrogate before making his West End debut in 'A Touch of Spring' by Sam Taylor. He is probably best known for his portrayal of the incorrigible Lord Kilwillie in the BBC's series, 'Monarch of the Glen'. In the cinema, he was seen in 'Shadowlands' with Anthony Hopkins, 'Damage' with Jeremy Irons and 'Tomorrow Never Dies' with Pierce Brosnan. As a TV writer his scripts include 'Little Sir Nicholas,' 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' (winner of an International Emmy, 1995) and 'The Prince and the Pauper' (nominated for a Bafta, 1997) which he also produced. His screenplay debut for the big screen was 'Gosford Park' directed by Robert Altman, which won a plethora of prizes, not least the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He has also worked on a new version of 'Vanity Fair' with Reese Witherspoon. He is now writing the book for a new stage musical of 'Mary Poppins' for Cameron Mackintosh/ Disney (autumn 2004). His adaptation of Nigel Balchin's 'A Way Through the Wood', which he also directs, is due for release in 2004, starring Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Everett. As well as his novel SNOBS he has a children's story coming in 2004. He and his wife Emma have a son, Peregrine and a dachsund, Fudge.