Downton Abbey Readalikes

Update: Season 3 is here! I What are some of the books you read while you waited? What do you think of the newest episode? Tell us in the comments!

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As you prepare for the end of Downton Abbey Season 2, you might find yourself feeling terribly sad to be leaving Great Britain in the 1910s yet again. I know I was quite sad after the end of Season 1 and sought out many novels to fill the void left by Anna & Mr. Bates, Thomas & O’Brien, and the Crawleys.

To help ease the burden, we’ve put together a list of books we think help fill the gaping hole left in our hearts while we wait for Downton Abbey Season 3.

Fiction:

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin – Like Cora, the Countess of Grantham, The American Heiress’ heroine is a wealthy American that marries a Duke in need of money. Of course, she soon discovers being a Duchess might not be all she wanted or needed.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton – A love triangle in the Gilded Age. (Just about anything by Wharton will make the wait for Season 3 go by just a bit faster!)

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett- The first book in Follett’s Century Trilogy follows five families as they navigate the tumultous years of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and woman’s suffrage.

Even more:

• The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
• Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide
• The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
• The Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd (Start with A Duty to the Dead)
• The Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd (Start with A Test of Wills)
• The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear (Start with Maisie Dobbs)
• Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
• Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford
• The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate
• The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
• A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

Nonfiction:

• Below Stairs: Memoir of a Kitchen Maid by Margaret Powell
• What the Butler Winked At: Being the Life and Adventures of Eric Horne, Butler by Eric Horne
• Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon
• To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl
• Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor by Rosina Harrison
• The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary Lovell
• The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy by David Cannadine
• Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
• War Poems edited by John Hollander
• The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes

More Downton Abbey Fun:

• The Highclere Castle Website
• Downton Abbey Tumblrs via The New York Observer
• Print Out Paper Dolls of Your Favorite Characters via Vulture
• Downton Abbey on Pinterest: Pins | Boards
• Downton Abbey Estates Lost to Time via The Daily Beast
• NYPL’s Downton Abbey Pinterest Board
• The Other Downton Abbeys: Nine Illustrious Houses in Fiction via The Daily Beast