Gosford Park

by Julian Fellowes

First published 2002

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In November 1932, wealthy industrialist Sir William McCordle invites relatives, friends and servants to a shooting weekend at his country estate. Tensions surface over money, inheritance, sexual exploitation and old grievances, while the visiting American film producer and actor Ivor Novello expose the household to a changing world beyond the estate.

Sir William is poisoned and then stabbed, prompting a police investigation that treats the servants as background and the guests as suspects. Conversations below stairs gradually reveal the connections hidden by the upstairs world, including the identity of Robert Parks and Mrs Wilson’s decision to protect him. The book reproduces Fellowes’s shooting script with accompanying material on the film.