Snobs

A Novel.

Witty and enthralling contemporary comedy of manners set against the background of aristocracy, business and actors - by the Oscar-winning author of the movie 'Gosford Park'.

'Snobs' is the story of Edith Lavery, the attractive only child of a comfortably-off accountant, who earns a living answering the telephone in a Chelsea estate agents. Attending Royal Ascot, she meets Charles Broughton, who as Earl Broughton and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, is a gossip-column favourite. He proposes, she accepts - and here is the crux of the story: is she really in love with Charles or with his title and all that goes with it?

The story is narrated by a journeyman character actor who comfortably moves among the upper and middle classes, while observing their foibles. Superbly observed, the story includes a fabulous character in Charles's mother, Lady Uckfield, known as "Googie", who wants for her son the daughter of a peer from the old, familiar world she knows and trusts.

Edith, however, she sees as a young woman on the make and then Edith, now Countess Broughton, falls for a blonde good-looking actor. Fellowes resolves his story with twists and turns aplenty. This is a tale worthy of a contemporary Jane Austen with a dash of Evelyn Waugh.