Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Winner by Ibbotson, January 7, 2001
Amazon's branch in the UK carries this in paperback and her others as well. Readers also use interlibrary loans to find her novels. I virtually pulled an "all nighter" to finish this novel and that rather says it all. A young Russian countess is forced to work as an English earl's housemaid because of having fled revolutionary torn Russia. The earl is engaged to a beautiful heiress who is another one of Ibbotson's high comic characters. She believes in eugenics, getting rid of unfit people. The people in the earl's village and household use that vice to sink her boat with the earl. This is a fitting failing for the time period because it is right before Hitler and WWII. Ibbotson always seems to have the other woman as the villainess for the hero's affections. However, she presents them as such high figures of comedy that they are not at all clichés. I also love Ibbotson's use of time periods that few others seem inclined to use. This is right after WWI and the effect of that war on the survivors is part of the story. Ibbotson was a native of Vienna who settled in England herself so she brings all of her eastern European insight into her novels. This resembles a delightful fairy tale but there is no paranormal or fantasy aspect to it.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 24, 2007
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 maid so that her little brother can still attend school. With her take-charge attitude, Anna proves that not all rich girls are snobby brats, like modern heiresses lead us to believe.
While many of the servants at the Westerholme residence are skeptical of the new foreign girl, Anna quickly charms her way into their hearts. With her deep curtsies, bright smile, and cheerful demeanor, Anna is beloved by all. She does each task assigned to her as best she can, never slacking on the job.
When the young and handsome Earl of Westerholme returns home from World War I, Anna is immediately drawn to him. And it seems that he feels a similar attraction to her. But Anna's identity as a countess is still a secret, and she does not have the social standing that she once held in Russia. Plus, the Earl is already engaged to the beautiful but vicious Muriel Hardwicke. Muriel nursed Earl Rupert back to health when he was wounded in the war, and he proposed to her. But that was before he met Anna.
In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Muriel begins to take over the Westerholme household, arbitrarily firing servants that do not fit in with her vision for Westerholme. None of the servants or neighbors are fond of Muriel, and as the wedding date approaches, all of Rupert's friends and family are leery of the impending marriage.
At the costume ball thrown prior to the wedding, Anna's true identity as a countess is revealed, and Anna and Rupert dance the night away. Everyone can see that they are a perfect couple, but can Rupert and Anna come to terms with their feelings for each other before his marriage to Muriel?
Although A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS has a very fairytale-like romantic plot, Anna is far from the typical princess. She has a feisty spirit and genuinely fun personality that immediately draws you in. Eva Ibbotson does a great job in breathing life into the generic fairytale plot. Anna's story is very similar to what much of the Russian aristocracy experienced during the communist revolution, and Ibbotson shows that even though life is unpredictable and rarely kind, if you embrace all opportunities and make the most of your situation, you will find happiness.
Reviewed by: Amber Gibson
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magic, August 28, 2007
Born into an aristocratic family in tsarist Russia, Anna Grazinsky was lavished with affection and material wealth. As her father freely admitted, he spoiled her--yet she remained unspoiled. Anna's life of privilege ended with the war and the Bolshevik Revolution that took her beloved father's life and forced Anna to flee with her mother and younger brother to the relative safety of England. Betrayed by the family nurse who absconded with the family jewels the Grazinskys were going to use to support themselves, they were forced instead to share the small living quarters of Anna's devoted English governess.
Determined to do her bit to help with the family's expenses, Anna takes a temporary job as a maid at the country estate of the Earl of Westerholme. The senior staff at Mersham is reluctant to take on the obviously unsuitable foreigner, but they are desperate for the help. The war has left them short-staffed and the new earl himself is soon to return to take up residence after years at the front and a long hospital convalescence. With an overly large and ridiculously outdated housekeeping manual for her reference, Anna is fervent in her new duties, although she is nearly overcome by the sheer physical strain, lack of hygiene, and loneliness. But the tight-knit group quickly takes to the radiant Anna, and she to them.
When the house is readied and the young earl himself arrives, he too is intrigued by the mysterious maid. His initial interest does not distract him from his immediate purpose, however. While he recovered from his war wounds, he was nursed back to health by an angel of mercy. The angel was not only exquisitely beautiful, she was also wealthy enough to save the Westerholme estates from the crippling death taxes that threatened them with financial ruin. The earl would marry his angel and fortunes would be restored.
But all would not remain well for Rupert, the earl. Muriel, the angel, had a dark side. Unlike Anna who was spoiled yet remained unspoiled, Muriel was spoiled and turned rotten to the core--evil, ungrateful, manipulative behind a lovely façade. Gradually, her actions and beliefs alienated almost everyone around her even as her physical beauty continued to entrance them. Rupert's friends, family, and even servants began to despair for him, knowing that he was too much of a gentleman to back out an increasingly odious arrangement. And, to make matters worse, even as he stood at the edge of the abyss with Muriel, Rupert could only snatch glimpses of a forbidden heaven with Anna.
This is a beautiful, magical book. Once I picked it up, I read it in one sitting. I loved the descriptions of postwar England--complete with the fascination with the occult, the rise in the "study" of eugenics, the ugliness of anti-Semitism, decline of the aristocracy, etc. I also enjoyed the look at life downstairs at large country house--how the servants reacted to Anna's mistake about the reference to the "tweeny," for instance--that was a subtlety that was beyond me before reading this book. I was also mesmerized by the beautiful, romantic love story between Rupert and Anna. By today's standards, of course, it was a very chaste love story, but it was so very sweet. And, I should actually say *stories* because the Tom/Susie courtship was a wonderful secondary storyline.
Truly, tho, not to give short shrift to any of these things, or even the Honorable Olive, what I liked most were the brief descriptions of émigré life and how the Russian nobility coped with their new lifestyles. It brought back memories of watching Anastasia or Ninotchka/Silk Stockings. In reality, life probably wasn't a grand adventure, but you had to admire Anna, Sergei, Kira and the others for accepting their new lot and still embracing life for all it was worth.
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I think the difficulty that some readers might have with this book is that it is hard to categorize. What kind of book is it and who is the intended audience? Even after reading it, it still wasn't clear to me. At times it reminded me of a Nesbitt book, but it wasn't really a children's or YA book. On the other hand, there was a fantastical naivete that didn't quite place it in the adult realm. I think the reader just needs to suspend any preconceptions and enjoy the wonderful magic Ms. Ibbotson weaves.
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