From the grand houses of Brighton to imposing London mansions life as a kitchen maid could be exhausting & demoralising. It's not just being at the beck & call of the people upstairs when even the children of the family can treat you like dirt but having to deal with temperamental cooks starchy butlers & chauffeurs with a roving eye. Marriage is the only escape but with one evening off a week Margaret has no time to lose. Between Perce the bus conductor (who brings his mother on dates) & Mr Hailsham the fishmonger (who looks -- & smells -- a bit like his wares) her initial prospects are hardly the stuff of dreams. But then she meets Albert; a butcher boy-turned-milkman. Could he be the perfect husband? & can she make the perfect wife when as she soon discovers years spent serving others don't prepare you for managing your own life? Soon Margaret begins to wonder -- how can someone like her ever improve their station? Told with her trademark wit & warmth Climbing the Stairs is a unique sharp-eyed tale of a time when the idea of masters & servants began to lose its sway & of a remarkable woman who grasped the opportunities of this brave new world with both hands. ' Margaret Powell was the first person outside my family to introduce me to that world so near & yet seemingly so far away where servants & their employers would live their vividly different lives under one roof. Her memories funny & poignant angry & charming haunted me until many years later I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera. I certainly owe her a great debt' Julian Fellowes