The Passing Bells  (English, Paperback, Rock Phillip)

• In all the articles written on the popularity of Downton Abbey and what books fans should read for more on this era in English history, Phillip Rock’s trilogy of novels that begins with The Passing Bells, continues with Circles of Time and concludes with A Future Arrived, was universally mentioned as essential reading.
• The paperback includes a P.S. section with additional insights from the author, background material, suggestions for further reading, and more.

Before there was Downton Abbey, there was Abingdon Pryory...

It’s the summer of 1914, and the guns of August are rumbling. But in Abingdon Pryory, the summer home of the Greville family, the parties, dances, and romances play on. Charles Greville is hopelessly in love with the beautiful but untitled Lydia Foxe—knowing his father, the Earl of Stanmore, will never approve of the match—while his sister Alexandra is embarking on her debutante season, eager to find the perfect husband. Meanwhile, new servant Ivy struggles to adjust to the routines of the well-oiled household staff, while shrugging off unwelcome attentions. When the Grevilles’ American cousin Martin Rilke, a Chicago newspaperman, comes to stay, he can’t quite adjust to the soft, leisurely life of his English cousins. But the Grevilles’ social season and tranquil household are soon shattered by the Great War, and their class enters the terrible conflict as if embarking on a glorious adventure.

As the horrors of war come home, high spirits fade, barriers between the classes start to crumble, and new romances defy traditions. From the peaceful summer season on London’s Park Lane to the terrifying battle of Gallipoli, through the eyes of the Grevilles and American journalist Martin, The Passing Bells recreates a time when the world would never be the same again.

Written with vivid detail, The Passing Bells is an epic novel of World War I and how the British aristocracy—especially one titled family—lived through the war. It is also the story of the maids, butlers, and chauffeurs who knew their place beneath the stairs—until the fabric of British society began to unravel.