The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking,...

In the wake of her tile-maker father's untimely blindness, 16-year-old Griet becomes a maid in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer, where she glimpses a world very different from her own. Griet's nuanced sense of color soon attracts the attention of the artist, who teaches her how to mix pigments as she cleans his studio. But Griet's growing bond with Vermeer does not go unnoticed by the rest of the household, and when the painter chooses her to...

The Sound and the Fury is the story of the Compson family, a bourgeois Jackson, Mississippi family in the early 1900's. The novel is divided into four sections, each told by a different character. The three Compson sons, Benjy, Quentin and Jason Compson, and the family's black servant, Dilsey Gibson, each have their own section in which they tell their collective story.

Zita, cast aside by her father and raised as a kitchen maid, learns when she is nearly twelve that she is a princess and that her twelve sisters love her, and so when she discovers they are victims of an evil enchantment, she desperately tries to save them. Inspired by the Grimm fairy tale, "The twelve dancing princesses."

Amelia Bedelia, who knows very little about baseball, stands in for a sick player during a game.

"After leaving her position with Charlotte and Thomas Pitt to get married, Gracie thought her days as a maid were behind her. But when her good friend’s daughter, Millie, turns up on her doorstep just before the holidays, frantic because things are going missing from the kitchen in the household she serves, Gracie knows she has to find out what is happening. Millie, whose mother died years before, can’t risk being accused of theft and getting...

The War is over and a long-awaited engagement is on, but all is not tranquil at Downton Abbey as wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues, and personal crises grip the majestic English country estate for a third thrilling season. In the wake of World War I, Robert, Earl of Grantham, sticks to his duty to maintain Downton more firmly than ever.

In 1924, the radio is the latest miracle, a new Labour government heralds changes through the land, and Downton's traditional ways are besieged on all fronts. Robert, Mary, and Branson must navigate these shifting sands together to ensure the future of the estate for generations to come. As Branson finds himself playing a more crucial role at Downton than ever before, he can't help but question his place in the world. Mary is finally coming to accept...

1922. Six months after Matthew's tragic death, his loss is still felt throughout Downton Abbey. Mary struggles to face a new future with her fatherless child, and is encouraged by the family to pick up the pieces. Accepting a new role on the estate, the now-eligible Mary also finds herself the reluctant object of attention from a number of eager suitors. With the twenties in full swing and the tides of change sweeping through Downton, Rose's continued...