Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: servitude

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  A Countess Below Stairs

  by Eva Ibbotson

  After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties—not... (more)
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  The Mistress of Nothing

  by Kate Pullinger

  Lady Duff Gordon is the toast of Victorian London. But when her debilitating tuberculosis means exile, she and her devoted lady’s maid, Sally, set sail for Egypt. It is Sally who describes, with a mixture of wonder and trepidation, the odd ménage marshalled by the resourceful Omar, which travels down the Nile to a new life in Luxor. As Lady Duff Gordon undoes her stays and takes to native dress, throwing herself... (more)
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  The Blood of Flowers

  by Anita Amirrezvani

  In 17th-century Persia, a 14-year-old woman believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, she and her mother find themselves alone and without a dowry. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven to pay for their journey to Isfahan, where they will work as servants for her uncle, a rich rug designer in the court of the... (more)
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  Until We Reach Home

  by Lynn N. Austin

  Winner of the Christy Award in 2009.
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  The Remains of the Day

  by Kazuo Ishiguro

  The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and his fading, insular world in postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true... (more)
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  A Little Princess

  by Frances Hodgson Burnett

  Sara Crewe was best friends with her father, a captain. They always walked around hand in hand, and her father would give little Sara her heart's desires. Then one day Sara's father drops her off at old Miss Minchin's boarding school in London. There she is spoiled with her own room, with beautiful luxuries, closets full of silks and furs. But Sara Crew was not haughty or arrogant at all. She loved the company and... (more)
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  How to Eat a Cupcake: A Novel

  by Meg Donohue

  From the Back CoverFree-spirited Annie Quintana and sophisticated Julia St. Clair come from two different worlds. Yet, as the daughter of the St. Clairs' housekeeper, Annie grew up in Julia's San Francisco mansion and they forged a bond that only two little girls oblivious to class differences could--until a life-altering betrayal destroyed their friendship.A decade later, Annie bakes to fill the void... (more)
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  Raised by Wolves: The Story of Abandonment, Abuse and Survival

  by Kirk Felix

  My brothers and I experienced many obstacles in our first 25 of existence on this earth. Too many people out there don't wish to remember much of their life experiences, because they have bad memories. As true as this may be, it is important to share those memories with the next generation and with this book we collectively have done some of that. We have attempted to share the good and bad, positive and negative... (more)
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  Signposts

  Signposts Vol 1

  by Todd Garlington

  Signposts Vol 1: poems that don’t mess around. Three lines, three stanzas. Snapshots of time and place. Bookmarks that become pages.Inspired by haiku and tanka, Signposts takes a different direction, shifting the emphasis from nature to urban existence. The results are sometimes dark. An appreciation of irony, however, triumphs over nihilism. A brief synopsis might read: work, loneliness,... (more)
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  The Tortoise and the Hare

  by Elizabeth Jenkins

  The magnetic Evelyn Gresham, 52, is a barrister of considerable distinction. He has everything life could offer—a gracious riverside house in Berkshire, a beautiful young wife, Imogen, who is devoted to him, and their 11-year-old son, a replica of his father. Their nearest neighbor is Blanche Silcox, a plain, tweed-wearing woman of 50 who rides, shoots, fishes, and drives a Rolls Royce—in every way the opposite of... (more)
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  Honourably Wounded: Stress Among Christian Workers

  by Marjory F. Foyle

  As a psychiatrist, medical doctor, and former missionary, Dr. Foyle provides insights and special help for the stress and pressures of full-time Christian service. It s always been tough serving the Lord on the front lines, whether you re an office worker, missionary, evangelist, doctor, or teacher. If you put your head above the parapet you will get shot at. Sometimes you will get hit. After initial chapters on... (more)
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  The Kitchen House

  by Kathleen Grissom

  Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin. Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where... (more)
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  The Buddha in the Attic

  by Julie Otsuka

  From the author of the contemporary classic "When the Emperor Was Divine," a tour de force about a group of women brought from Japan to San Francisco in the early 1900s as mail-order brides. In six unforgettable, incantatory sections, the novel traces their new lives as "picture brides:" the arduous voyage by boat, where the girls trade photos of their husbands and imagine uncertain futures in an unknown land . .... (more)
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  Below Stairs

  The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey"

  by Margaret Powell

  Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs , Margaret Powell’s classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the... (more)
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  The Rebel Wife

  by Taylor M. Polites

  A Simon & Schuster eBook
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  Ella Enchanted

  by Gail Carson Levine

  How can a fairy's blessing be such a curse? At her birth, Ella of Frell was the unfortunate recipient of a foolish fairy's gift — the "gift" of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day and a half, or chopping off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters and fairy... (more)
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  Hawkes Harbor

  by S. E. Hinton

  An orphan and a bastard, Jamie Sommers grew up knowing he had no hope of heaven. Conceived in adultery and born in sin, Jamie was destined to repeat the sins of his parents--or so the nuns told him. And he proved them right. Taking to sea, Jamie sought out danger and adventure in exotic ports all over the world as a smuggler, gunrunner--and murderer. Tough enough to handle anything, he's survived foreign prisons,... (more)
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  The Way We Were

  Remembering Diana

  by Paul Burrell

  Paul Burrell served Diana, Princess of Wales, as her faithful butler from 1987 until her death in 1997. He was much more than an employee: he was her right-hand man, confidant and friend. She described him as 'the only man she ever trusted.' As the world prepares for the official inquest into her death, The Way We Were marks an intense period of reflection by ensuring the spirit, warmth and character... (more)
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  You Wouldn't Want to Be a Victorian Servant!: A Thankless Job You'd Rather Not Have (You Wouldn't Want to...)

  by Fiona MacDonald, David Antram

  Fiona MacDonald studied history at Cambridge University and at the University of East Anglia. She has taught in schools, adult education and university, and is the author of numerous books for children on historical topics.
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  The Silver Dragons: Book 2

  Up In Smoke

  by Katie MacAlister

  HELL ON EARTHThough May Northcott's heart belongs to Gabriel Tauhou, the leader of the silver dragons, being stuck in Abaddon has significantly cooled down her love life -- especially since a demon lord is trying to woo her. So far, May has resisted his efforts, but it's getting increasingly harder to thwart disaster.So May is shocked when Gabriel encourages her to give in to the demon prince.... (more)