"Downton Abbey" creator"s new book mixes Victorian era with modern tech

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ListenThe Thread Question: What books should "Downton Abbey" fans read?

Jan 5, 2016

9min 18sec

Everybody loves "Downton Abbey": Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visited with show creator Julian Fellowes last spring. This spring, Fellowes will release a new novel set in a wealthy London neighborhood.Chris Jackson | Getty Images Get more book news from The Thread

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This week"s question: With "Downton Abbey" winding down, what books should fans read?

This may be the final season of the popular BBC drama, but show creator Julian Fellowes is following it up with a novel, "Belgravia."

Just like Downton Abbey, the book promises to be filled with aristocratic drama and British manners. "Belgravia" will be published in the spring, right in time to comfort those suffering from dowager-withdrawal.

Fellowes, however, is pulling a publishing trick from the days of Charles Dickens for "Belgravia": The novel will be serialized. The book"s ten installments will be released week by week, in the manner of 19th-century serials.

Charles Dickens popularized the serial form when he published his works in weekly magazine installments. According to "Consciousness and the Novel," this "became the standard form for the initial publication of novels in the Victorian age."

The Victorian publication style fits perfectly for the era of "Belgravia," which is named for the wealthy London neighborhood where the drama unfolds.

From Grand Central Publishing:

Julian Fellowes"s "Belgravia" is the story of a secret that unravels behind the porticoed doors of London"s grandest postcode. Set in the 1840s when the upper echelons of society began to rub shoulders with the emerging industrial nouveau riche, "Belgravia" is peopled by a rich cast of characters. But the story begins on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. At the Duchess of Richmond"s now legendary ball, one family"s life will change forever.

The big difference will be that Dickens never had an app. Fellowes" novel installments will be delivered one by one as an e-book or audio book through a custom app. Readers will be able to switch between reading or listening as they choose.

The app will also include extra content including maps of London, family trees and details about the fashions of the era. Fellowes" co-collaborators on the project are authors Lindy Woodhead and Imogen Edwards-Jones.

In the press release from Grand Central, Fellowes said, "I was very intrigued by the idea from the start. To marry the traditions of the Victorian novel to modern technology, allowing the reader (or listener) an involvement with the characters and the background of the story and the world in which it takes place that would have not been possible until now, and yet to preserve within that the strongest traditions of story-telling, seems to me a marvelous goal and a real adventure."

Source: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/01/06/books-downton-abbey-creator-new-book-belgravia