Books like Below stairs by Margaret Powell

George Orwell’s autobiographical essay, *Down and Out in Paris and London*, chronicles his years of poverty and unemployment in the city streets and hostels of Paris and London, revealing the harsh realities of 1930s street life.

In the UK, White's brilliant cooking and high-wattage antics have made him a legend: the first British chef (and the youngest chef anywhere) to win three Michelin stars, a chain-smoking, pot-throwing, multiply married culinary genius whose fierce devotion to food and restaurants has been the only constant in a life of tabloid-ready turmoil. Here, he tells the story of his life in food, spanning his apprenticeship with Albert and Michel Roux, his wild years in the bacchanal of 1980s Chelsea, his ferocious pursuit of the highest Michelin rating, and his "retirement career" as a hugely successful restaurateur. With cameos from the likes of Michael Caine, Madonna, and Damien Hirst, The Devil in the Kitchen leaves no dish unserved, relating the backroom antics, the blood feuds, and the passion for great food that have driven London's greatest restaurants for decades.--From publisher description.

Margaret Powell’s memoir, Below Stairs, chronicles her life as a kitchen maid in England’s great houses from the 1920s, offering a vivid, personal view of the servants’ world behind the grand estates of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.

Margaret Powell, a kitchen maid in Britain, seeks escape through marriage with minimal leisure. When she meets Albert, a milkman, their mutual desire to serve others sparks a new quest for self‑determination.

Alison Maloney peels back the polished veneer of Edwardian elite to expose the day‑to‑day reality of the servants who kept the aristocracy’s homes running.