The New Countess

A noble British family faces scandal in a historical saga that's "

Downton Abbey

for smart, literate readers" (Erica Jong,

New York Times

-bestselling author).

England, 1905. Lord Robert and Lady Isobel Dilberne, as well as their entire regal estate, with its hundred rooms, are busy planning for a lavish visit from King Edward VII and his mistress just a few months away. Preparations are elaborate and exhaustive: the menus and fashions must be just so. But even amidst the excitement, not everyone is happy.

Lady Rosina-now widowed and wealthy-insists on publishing a scandalous book despite her mother's objections. Arthur Dilberne and Chicago Heiress Minnie O'Brien's two young sons-the eldest of whom is heir to the estate-are being reared to Lady Isobel's tastes, not Minnie's. After making a shocking discovery, Minnie will take drastic measures for the sake of her children. And when fate deals a hand in the middle of the royal shooting party, the entire Dilberne estate will face upheaval once again.

As the bestselling novelist and award-winning writer for the pilot episode of the original
Upstairs Downstairs, Fay Weldon magnificently lifts the curtain on early twentieth-century British society, upstairs and downstairs, under one stately roof.

"[Weldon's] Edwardian trilogy, told with wit, wry observation, and fascinating period detail, is just as absorbing [as

Downton Abbey

]." -

The Christian Science Monitor

Fay Weldon's Love & Inheritance Trilogy

Habits of the House (#1)

Long Live the King (#2)

The New Countess (#3)