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1840s: Behind the posh facade of Belgravia, there are secrets lurking..
Belgravia
What you need to know before your trail
Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia is the story of a secret. A secret that unravels behind the porticoed doors of London’s grandest postcode. Set in the 1840s when the upper echelons of society began to rub shoulders with the emerging industrial nouveau riche, Belgravia is peopled by a rich cast of characters. But the story begins on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. At the Duchess of Richmond’s now legendary ball, one family’s life will change for ever…
Locations
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Brussels
The novel opens on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo . Many men are going to their deaths the next day but at a large and lavish party in Brussels, many families’ futures are going to be altered.
London
This is a tour around the nice area of Belgravia where all the lords and ladies live. Belgravia Square is of course the feature of the novel and the houses are grand and palatial. Horses and hansom cabs trot along the cobbles outside and ladies take care to pick up their skirts as they get in and out.
Eaton Square on the other hand is also a notable address .It’s larger than Belgravia but “the houses were a shade less magnificent” Anne and James live here but she would have preferred somewhere else. This is a London of high society, of clear class distinctions and a where those below stairs know much more than those above.
Streetview Maps
B) London - Belgrave Square
C) London - Eaton Square
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Oh I enjoyed this one. Read it over the Christmas holidays when I sat in the foyer of a posh hotel and imagined myself in the houses of Belgravia and in the worlds of these people. Ah yes I even convinced myself that the people walking past me were those from the novel. Maybe they were.
The character were rich, very easy to see them in your mind’s eye and the entire setting of Belgravia brought with it a sense of grandeur, of hidden secrets behind closed doors and a realisation that facades hide an awful lot whether those of buildings or people.
There was scandal and intrigue galore and there was pomp and circumstance, rich ladies doing what they wanted, rich husbands doing whatever took their fancy. There was comedy and a humourous romp feel to the whole affair but also many layers of seriousness such as the effects of the war on those left behind and the various strands of class and society.
Comparisons will be made to Downton Abbey of course but this is not the TV show but a whole other Fellowes setting of class, lies and scandal. Lap it up, it’s great fun.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: Belgravia
Author/Guide: Julian Fellowes Destination: London Departure Time: 1840s
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