42
JANUARY 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
culture
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THEMONTHAHEAD
“
Abbey” Reads
Like the deeply repressed, scandal-prone family we never knewwe had,
the folks of “Downton Abbey” look to be welcomed with open arms when
the hit British series returns to PBS on Jan. 6. Not surprisingly,
U.S. publishers’ latest offerings seem to channel some favorite characters ...
Ashenden
by Eliza-
beth Wilhide, which
traces two centuries
of life, love and loss
in an English manor
house.
JAN. 8
The Earl of
Grantham, devoted
custodian of Down-
ton Abbey (“I claim
no career beyond the
nurture of this house
and the estate,” he
declares).
“
The late morning
sun brought out the
honey color of the
stonework, and the
great house seemed
to glow. Something
about it tugged at her
in a way she couldn’t
put into words.
”
Habits of the House
by
Fay Weldon, in which
a posh family facing
financial ruin opts to
marry off its feckless
heir.
JAN. 22
Black-sheep
blueblood Lady
Mary, who spent
the better part of
two seasons living
down the shame
of a Turkish attaché
dying unexpectedly
in her bed.
“
He had left Minnie.
Flora was gone. He
had slept in a bath.
The police were after
him. Heaven knew
what would happen
when he got home.
But home he’d got,
and in style.
”
Life Below Stairs:
True Lives of Edward-
ian Servants
,
a
nonfiction guide to
the “Downton” era by
Alison Maloney.
OUT NOW
Downton’s
straitlaced butler,
Mr. Carson, who
preaches that a
servant who behaves
with “pride and
dignity reflects the
pride and dignity of
the family he serves.”
“
‘
Knowing your
place’ was as
important, if not
more so, when
talking to a fellow
member of the staff
as when addressing
the family.
”
Servants’ Hall
,
the
U.S. reissue of a 1979
memoir by former
cook Margaret Powell,
whose writings
helped inspire “Down-
ton Abbey.”
JAN. 15
The Dowager
Countess, who can be
relied upon to offer
wry commentary on
her family’s triumphs
and heartbreaks—as
in, “Don’t be defeatist,
dear. It’s terribly
middle-class.”
“
Mr. Kite’s
conversation,
never at any time
calculated to raise
one’s blood pressure,
was, when one was
tired, a positive
soporific.
”
RETRO
ACTIVE
Neville pays
homage to
doo-wop
THE BOOK:
REMINDS
US OF:
WHO’D
PROBABLY
RELATE
TO:
NEWDOO
Aaron Neville goes back
to his roots
This month, honey-throated
R&B singer Aaron Neville
releases
My True Story
,
a collec-
tion of covers of doo-wop tunes
that inspired him as a kid—stuff
like “Under the Boardwalk” and
“
Be My Baby.” But when asked to
single out a favorite, he demurs.
“
Some of the first key singers
that inspired me were Clyde
McPhatter, Sonny Til and my
brother, Art Neville,” he says,
“
but there are so many doo-wop
songs and groups that it’s hard
to name just one. The entire era
left its impression deep in my
heart and soul.”
More important, it laid the
foundation for a hugely success-
ful career. “Doo-wop gave me
the desire to sing harmonies;
the music inspired me to hit the
high notes, the bass notes and
all the in-betweens. Now I’m just
trying to learn how to do them
all at once,” he says. “This album
has been in my blood since the
beginning of my career.”
JAN. 22
“
Frozen in the harsh spotlight, he looked so crazy and
old and forlorn and yet residually arrogant that an
intense discomfort settled on the room, a discomfort
that, in a non-charity situation, might have led to
shouted insults or thrown objects, but in this case
drew a kind of pity whoop from near the salad bar.”
—
Celebrated satirist George Saunders on a local-celebrity auction gone wrong, from his new
short-story collection,
Tenth of December
.
jan. 8
SARAH A. FRIEDMAN (NEVILLE)
