Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey

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This is book 8 of the book challenge I'm doing with my sister, Kati.  I more than fulfilled the challenge a few months back after I read my 5th book, but I decided to keep going in an effort to finish off the entire list this year.

When Kati gave me the list of ten in January, I was not immediately drawn to Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon because I had never watched Downton Abbey (!).

Actually, I had watched one episode, wasn't excited by that brief encounter, and abandoned the series. This says two things about me. One, I don't like to jump on bandwagons.  If everyone else is doing it, I tend to run away!  And two, as a result I often arrive late to the proverbial party and can't believe what I've missed.

But I digress.

This summer I binge-watched all four season of Downton Abbey and knew it was time to read this book. I love books with glossy sections devoted entirely to photographs...and this book had four!  I turned to those sections repeatedly as I read. 

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey is the biography of Almina Herbert, who became the Countess of Carnarvon when she married the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.  The book chronicles her life from birth to death, but focuses on her adult life, specifically the time during World War I and the early 1920s. I was surprised and interested to read how the family was involved in the discovery of King Tut's tomb!

While I liked the book, I'm a picky reader and  I'm finding that I enjoy memoir-style books over true biographies.

Now the countdown is on for the United States premier of Season 5... 114 days to go!