'Belgravia' transports readers into the classic conflicts of Victorian aristocracy

Julian Fellowes's first serial novel – 'Belgravia' – isn’t a book with great emotional depth, but what the story lacks in nuance it makes up for in a crackling plot.

Belgravia Julian Fellowes Grand Central Publishing 416 pages

In television series "Downton Abbey," the stock-in-trade of Julian Fellowes, the show's creator, was well-bred snobbery. In Belgravia, a serial novel now in hardback and the newest offering by Fellowes, "Downton" fans will find much of the same. The book is rife with schemers, social climbers, and snobs to rival even the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

Yes, "Downton" fans, if you mourned the end of Fellowes’s late-Edwardian TV melodrama, you’ll find the territory of “Belgravia” fairly familiar, in spite of its early Victorian setting. Class conflict is alive and well in the pages of this potboiler, as are meddling servants, well-kept secrets, and every reader’s favorite: star-crossed lovers.

“Belgravia” opens in 1815, at a glittering ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo. But before readers can get too comfortable, the next installment jumps ahead 26 years, landing in the exclusive Belgravia district of London, where the historically rich and the nouveau rich cautiously rub elbows. It’s here that the real drama of the story unfolds, as the upwardly-mobile Trenchard family faces the repercussions of a long-held secret that could cause their lives to unravel.

If the Trenchards have everything to lose, the other key players in this story, Lord and Lady Brockenhurst, have everything to gain. No spoilers here – “Belgravia” is crafted to keep you guessing from chapter to chapter – but let’s just say that like "Downton," “Belgravia” deals with the concerns of the rich: heirs, money, propriety, and society.

The novel also explores the upstairs/downstairs effect, although at least in this installment of what is sure to be another Julian Fellowes empire, the servants function more as plot devices than well-developed characters. Still, if you’re longing for a slippery servant of the O’Brien or Thomas variety, “Belgravia” won’t disappoint. And Fellowes provides enough of a sketch of the central downstairs characters so that readers may anticipate their reappearance in a sequel.

What readers might not be so keen to revisit is the somewhat relentless historical detail of this story, which seems to be interwoven with the plot more out of obligation than with an eye to thoughtful storytelling. Part of this is the medium, of course. With "Downton," the viewer was fully immersed in the visual details of the narrative. In “Belgravia,” the touches that help the 1840s come to life are painstakingly – and painfully – spelled out. That I could handle (though I did miss the costuming – my primary reason for tuning into "Downton" each week); the problem was that the heavy-handedness extended to characters’ emotions, which should be felt rather than explained.

No matter. While this isn’t a book with great emotional depth, what the story lacks in nuance it makes up for in a crackling plot, with Fellowes’s characteristic well-choreographed storylines and enough cliffhangers at chapters’ end to keep the story moving along. In fact, “Belgravia” was released not just in hardback, but also serially, for those who wanted to download individual installments, following in the great tradition of Charles Dickens, who set a high bar for nimble plotting.

Fellowes is no Dickens – meaning, his stories offer more in the way of fluff than they do in social commentary. Like "Downton," however, “Belgravia” does dabble in feminism; it’s the women who are the engines in this story, the women who get things done. Perhaps the greatest pleasure of the narrative is watching the chess game play out between Mrs. (Anne) Trenchard and Lady Brockenhurst, as they jockey for the upper hand while their mutual secret unravels. The younger Mrs. (Susan) Trenchard’s actions are more unsavory, but also prove surprisingly, if not somewhat cynically, strategic. The Dowager Countess of Grantham might not approve, though perhaps she’d give a nod to the young woman’s daring.

Or perhaps not. The Dowager is, of course, a snob – as are Fellowes fans after six uneven, but nevertheless delightful, seasons of "Downton." “Belgravia” is certainly the lesser of the two offerings – entertaining enough, but, like its nouveau rich characters, ultimately trying a little too hard.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'Belgravia' transports readers into the classic conflicts of Victorian aristocracy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2016/0721/Belgravia-transports-readers-into-the-classic-conflicts-of-Victorian-aristocracy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe