If you like the books that (older) Masterpiece Theater series are based on.... this one is for you. It was turned into the PBS Series the Duchess of Duke Street. This book really showed the real life of the main character that the series was based on. ( )

If you watched the BBC drama, The Duchess of Duke Street, you might want to read this biography of the woman who inspired it. She was a tough cookie, determined from a young age to make her way in the world through her cookery, who ended up running a hotel for the veddy, veddy upper classes. I'm not sure if she was a snob, or if that's Daphne Fielding, but there's no question that names were dropping all over the Cavendish Hotel.