Although I’ve been a fan of transformation and downgrade fiction for many years, it’s only recently that I’ve gathered the courage to begin writing myself. It started with the blog I set up in 2013, Ladies Becoming Maids, originally just to catalogue other peoples’ work and post captions, but I quickly realised how much I enjoyed exploring similar topics as a writer.
I enjoy themes of social drop and cultural change, with stories involving maids, often in historic settings, among my favourites. Stories I write tend to involve voluntary and not entirely voluntary relinquishing of status to become servants, cleaners and other people at the very bottom of the society ladder. Think of my fiction as Cinderella or Pygmalion in reverse with upper-class women – and, occasionally, men – giving up their privileged and pampered existence for one of hard work and low esteem.
When a freak accident forces Josephine, a 25-year old actress, to impersonate her very rich aunt – a woman well into her 50s who was addicted to plastic surgery and was about to marry a much younger man to boot – she sees it as yet another role to play. However, it soon becomes obvious that Josephine’s impersonation will have to be a lot deeper – and much longer – than she thought possible.
When David’s wife leaves him, it sets off a chain of events that allows the young manager to fulfil his long-harboured fantasy to descend the social ladder and experience life as Sylvia, a simple cleaner, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with no education. Things begin to spiral out of control once Nicole, a girl from work, manipulates him into accepting more profound changes to his life.
Lady Georgina’s fascination with the life of the working classes leads her down a path of no return as she sinks deeper and deeper into her pretend persona of a lady's maid. What starts out as an enticing fantasy for the bored 1880s heiress and an aspiring actress she hires for her game, slowly evolves into something bigger as she surrenders her status to live the life she was destined to live.