Whilst We Were Watching Downton Abbey - Wendy Wax

When the concierge of a historic Atlanta apartment building invited his fellow residents to join him for a weekly screening of Downton Abbey, four very different people fins themselves connecting with the addictive drama and - even more unexpectedly - with each other...

Samantha married young and for the wrong reason: the security of old Atlanta money - for herself and for her orphaned brother and sister. She never expected her marriage to be complicated by love and compromised by a shattering family betrayal.

Claire is now an empty nester and struggling author who left her home in the suburbs for a new and productive lie. But she soon wonders if clinging to old dreams can be more destructive than having no dreams at all.

And then there's Brooke, a woman in constant battle with her faithless ex-husband. She's just starting to realise that it's time to take a deep breath and come to terms with the fact that her life is not the fairy tale she thought it would be.

For Samantha, Claire, Brooke - and Edward, who arranges the weekly gatherings - it will be a season of surprises as they forge a bond that will sustain them through some of life's hardest moments - all of it reflected in their shared love of Downton Abbey.

Published by: Orion - Fiction
Year: 2013 - Kindle
Pages: 368
ISBN: 978-1409147855

Having just finished  If You Were the Only Girl  by Anne Bennett which was a cross between Downton Abbey and Gosford Park and with Downton Abbey coming back to our screens on the 21st September here in the UK to start series 5, I thought it was time that I read Wendy Wax's novel  'Whilst We Were Watching Downton Abbey' which is about three woman and the friendships they forge thanks to their quint essentially English concierge Edward Parker. If it hadn't been for his idea to bring the residents of Alexander apartments together to screen the first two series of Downton Abbey ahead of the third series which was to be screened in the states the following January, these three women would never have said more than a polite good morning whilst crossing the lobby.  There was never a truer saying than 'you never know what goes on behind closed doors'.  To the outside world these three women were very confident women but on the inside each had their troubles. Through meeting at the weekly screenings and building a friendship they soon develop a strong bond each supporting the other through their life's struggles eventually becoming the strong confident women that everyone thought they were.

A very good read and has definitely put me in the mood for the next series of good old Downton Abbey.

Can't wait until next weekend.

Mx