What makes “Aristocrats” unique among costume dramas adapted from novels is that generally in those stories, says Tillyard, the heroine has to find a hero. “It’s about four women who were brought up in very constrained circumstances they had to abide by. “That is really what the book and the series are about,” she offers. The sisters, says Tillyard, wanted to live their own lives. “When you have houses that go on standing, there is no reason to move anything.” “They were so wealthy, there were always houses to put letters in,” says Tillyard. She found a plethora of letters written by the sisters to each other in books, libraries and even in the ancestral homes. “Amazing materials started to tumble out,” says Tillyard. A friend working on a medical history came to visit and told her about letters Caroline had written describing the bizarre medical techniques used on her sickly son.īecause Tillyard wanted to know what happened to Caroline’s son, she began to do research. Tillyard began writing the book while teaching literature at UCLA. “She said I know this sounds daft, but I know so much about this woman.

The current Lady Louisa Lennox, though not an actress, even contacted Hall about playing her namesake in the miniseries.

Hall’s children even attended a nursery school run by ancestor Lady Sarah Gordon Lennox. “I know some of the family of the present Duke of Richmond and they are delighted by the series.” England’s current “aristocrats,’ says Hall, loved the series.

Aristocrats by stella tillyard