A review by mcsangel2
Minding the Manor: The Memoir of a 1930s English Kitchen Maid by Mollie Moran

3.0

I read this book for the first person look at the real upstairs/downstairs perspective, and for the glimpse of how the 20th century working class wound up in domestic service. For me, it was worth it for that, but I don't think this was a well written book.

There are three 'voices' in this story; the recollections that sound like first person reminisces of a working class woman (complete with grammar/dialect), the lion's share of the story which is a fictionalized/dramatized version of Mollie's story, and bits of historical facts that are awkwardly inserted throughout.

The first voice, which is clearly Mollie's, is mostly present only in the beginning and has completely disappeared by midway. The rest of the book is obviously ghostwritten (maybe by a family member?) and it's these parts that sound really unprofessional - overly descriptive, overly dramatized and unpolished.

Only recommend if you're really interested in true stories of domestic service.