His novel Snobs was published in 2004. It focused on the social nuances of the upper class and concerned the marriage of an upper-middle class girl, Edith Lavery - the daughter of an accountant and socially aspiring mother - to Charles, Earl Broughton - the son of the Marquess of Uckfield. Fellowes himself claims to come from the "bottom end of the gentry", and thus says he drew on his inside knowledge of the aristocracy to paint an intricate portrayal of the behaviour and snobbery of the upper class.

