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  • The Housekeeper's Tale

  • The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
  • By: Tessa Boase
  • Narrated by: Tessa Boase
  • Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (153 ratings)
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The Housekeeper's Tale cover art

The Housekeeper's Tale

By: Tessa Boase
Narrated by: Tessa Boase
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Summary

Working as a housekeeper was one of the most prestigious jobs a 19th and early 20th-century woman could want - and also one of the toughest. A far cry from the Downton Abbey fiction, the real life Mrs. Hughes was up against featured capricious mistresses, low pay, no job security, and grueling physical labor. Until now, her story has never been told. 

The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households. 

Dorothy Doar was Regency housekeeper for the obscenely wealthy first Duke and Duchess of Sutherland at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire. Sarah Wells, a deaf and elderly Victorian (mother to H.G. Wells), was in charge of Uppark, West Sussex. Ellen Penketh was Edwardian cook-housekeeper at the impecunious Erddig Hall in the Welsh borders. Hannah Mackenzie ran Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, Britain's first country-house war hospital. Grace Higgens was cook-housekeeper to the Bloomsbury set at Charleston farmhouse in East Sussex for half a century. 

Revelatory, gripping and unexpectedly poignant, The Housekeeper's Tale champions the invisible women behind the English country house. 

New version - now with no music.

©2014 Tessa Boase (P)2016 Tessa Boase
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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What listeners say about The Housekeeper's Tale

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping stories, compulsive listening

Where does The Housekeeper's Tale rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very good, almost like a radio drama to listen to, so many different 'voices' conjured up. Atmospheric music too. Fascinating subject.

What other book might you compare The Housekeeper's Tale to, and why?

Reminded me a bit of Mrs Woolf and the Servants by Alison Light - a quest to find forgotten and invisible voices.

What does Tessa Boase bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Drama, humour, characterisation.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long in one sitting - but it's divided into six separate tales of different women, so easily divided up.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Too many stars? Not really.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would because it is not only well researched but absorbing and moving.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sarah Wells. Her plight late in life and the scrutiny of her famous son made this fascinating.

Have you listened to any of Tessa Boase’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Don't know of any.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were too many to mention.

Any additional comments?

The voice is beautiful and modulated and appropriate to the content, though you can occasionally hear indignation bubbling under the surface.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting

This book was narrated perfectly well but I found the 'incidental ' music unpleasant, annoying and unnecessary.
The content of the book was interesting and thought provoking although I did feel that, at times, the author made some unwarranted assumptions.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just wonderful

I have spent a week, driving my children to school, entrenched in the lives of several Cook/Housekeepers. So beautifully read by the author, I have been transfixed by the stories and the immense hardships some endured. Can not recommend this book highly enough. Just wonderful.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Music throughout

Dreadful music throughout between each chapter. Would never have bought if known. Caused anxiety and completely ruined book. Never again.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting, well written & narrated

I liked the way the author selected several lives of housekeepers and went through them chronologically. It helped to show the evolution in the treatment of the women and how their roles evolved between c. 1800 and c. 1960. The author narrates very well and the insight into the lives of the housekeepers was very interesting.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A history of housekeepers

This started out well, but frankly found it boring long before half way, although reasonably well read and written, it failed to hold my interest, after about three quarters, I gave up and skipped to the end. As a lover of domestic history, I simple can’t recommend this book to anyone.
Should have sent this one back.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

More speculation than fact

Lots of scene-setting, which may be needed to get across the periods described, but this seems to highlight the paucity of actual historical material. I wanted to like this book, but the speculative nature of how the people must have felt started to wear thin after a while. A good idea, but the material let it down. Nicely presented but failed to engage this listener.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable

A really interesting book and look at the undervalued housekeepers of great houses. Enjoyed the narration.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Engrossing & well performed

Really worth the listen but to anyone who has issues with mouth sounds - the microphone sensitivity for this recording was WAY too high and there are subtle mouth noises at points. But it's not every day an author is such a good performer too.

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1 person found this helpful