''Snobs'' is
Julian Fellowes
Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, (born 17 August 1949) is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords.
He is primarily known as the author of s ...
's
debut novel first published in the UK in 2004. It centres on modern
British aristocracy and the courtship and marriage of Charles, Earl Broughton, and Miss Edith Lavery. It is written from the perspective of an unnamed male character who bears more than a passing resemblance to Fellowes himself.
Plot summary
Edith Lavery is a middleclass single woman who feels she has reached a time in her life when the only chance of riches, fame and success is to marry a rich man. Her parents, especially her mother, have spent most of Edith's life trying to make her respectable to the upper classes and are both extremely glad when she announces her courtship and engagement to the bumbling and kind-hearted Charles Broughton, only son and heir of the Marquess of
Uckfield.
The engagement is not looked upon favourably by Charles's mother, the Marchioness of Uckfield ("Googie" to her friends), or by many in Charles's "set". His friends and relatives frequently mock Edith and attempt to "catch her out" as an alien to the aristocracy. Her greatest enemy of all is Eric Chase, husband of Charles's sister Lady Caroline Chase, who comes from a similar background to Edith herself.
After the couple marry, they
honeymoon
A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...
in
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
, but cracks have already begun to form in the marriage. Charles bores Edith while Edith puzzles Charles. Back at the family seat of Broughton Hall, Edith is tempted by Simon Russell, an actor who is filming scenes for a period drama at Broughton with the story's narrator. She embarks on an affair with Russell which leads her to eventually very nearly divorce Charles.
She returns to the Broughton fold upon news of her being pregnant. She accepts Charles for who he is and they live "happily enough".
Characters
*The Narrator, Edith Lavery's friend
*Edith Lavery
*Charles, Earl Broughton
*Simon Russel, an actor
*The Marquess of Uckfield ('Tigger'), Charles Broughton's father
*The Marchioness of Uckfield ('Googie') (born Lady Harriet Trevane), Charles Broughton's mother
*Lady Caroline Chase, Charles Broughton's sister
*Eric Chase, Caroline Chase's husband
*Adela FitzGerald, the narrator's eventual wife
*Lord Cumnor
*Lady Cumnor
*The Honourable Tommy Wainright
*Lord Peter Broughton, the Marquess of Uckfield's younger half-brother
*Viscount Bohun
*Viscountess Bohun
*Bob Watson
*Annette Watson
*Isabel Easton, Edith Lavery's friend
*David Easton, Edith Lavery's friend
*Stella Lavery, Edith Lavery's mother
*Kenneth Lavery, Edith Lavery's father
Reception
The novel received mixed reviews. In
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, Rachel Cooke proclaimed that "Fellowes can certainly write a decent sentence; his prose is as refined as his vowels. But what is the point of his book?"
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
called it "a good book but not a great one, though it has many great passages."
References
{{reflist
2004 British novels
English novels
2004 debut novels
Works by Julian Fellowes
Weidenfeld & Nicolson books