Longbourn in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 01, 2022 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-request, yt-recs, hf, friend-love, on-ipad2, favorites, on-mp3, ill-request, lib-has-audio, overdrive

I loved this book so much. I never wanted it to end, or I’d have finished it much sooner.

This basically tells part of the story of Pride and Prejudice, from the POV of the servants at Longbourn, where Jane and Elizabeth live, but for the most part, it is Sarah’s story. Sarah is a ladies maid as well as a house maid because the Bennet family only has a few servants. So she looks after Jane and Elizabeth, as well as doing much of the cleaning, laundry, errands, etc. for the house.

I had started t I loved this book so much. I never wanted it to end, or I’d have finished it much sooner.

This basically tells part of the story of Pride and Prejudice, from the POV of the servants at Longbourn, where Jane and Elizabeth live, but for the most part, it is Sarah’s story. Sarah is a ladies maid as well as a house maid because the Bennet family only has a few servants. So she looks after Jane and Elizabeth, as well as doing much of the cleaning, laundry, errands, etc. for the house.

I had started this book a couple of times in the past and couldn’t get past the first few pages, which give a very gritty description of housemaid’s work in the early 1800s. I read to escape, and didn’t know if such a story was for me, but Katie on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/BooksandThi...) recommended it this time, so I soldiered on. I’m so glad I did.

This story isn’t the fairytale that P&P was. It feels to me like a very well-researched and more realistic retelling. It’s a wonderful work of historical fiction. It’s beautifully written and especially suited to reading in the winter, since much of the story takes place then, and the descriptions of the landscape, etc. will sweep you away.

IMO, Sarah’s story is more interesting than Jane’s and Elizabeth’s. It is more realistic, for one thing, and Jo Baker really brings the life of a housemaid up close and personal. It was hard work and long hours in exchange for very little money and barely any time off, but yet, there are so many points of light in this too. There are two young men who come to be important in Sarah’s life, and we follow her as she tries to learn more about them while remaining caught within the tight framework of life as a female servant during this time.

Her story is moving and captivating and the writing keeps the reader firmly in that time and place. The audio version was also so wonderfully performed by Emma Fielding. It’s very hard to choose which I liked best: the writing, the story, or the narration. I think if I had to choose, I would go with the prose. It was so beautiful that even the dark parts of the story made for enjoyable reading.

This book deserves much higher than a 3.64 rating. It isn’t always G rated like P&P, but it isn’t salacious either, it’s just a much more realistic portrayal of life than the original. It’s definitely not all flowers and sunshine, but I really enjoyed it, and never wanted to turn the last page. As much as I love P&P (and really enjoyed rereading the original in conjunction with this), this book deserves to sit on the same shelf next to Austen’s work. And I don’t say that lightly. I hope you read it, and love it as I did. ...more

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Dec 09, 2013 Alisa rated it it was amazing

First, in full disclosure…while not a rampant Jane Austen groupie,
I am definitely a lover of Pride and Prejudice. Having read the novel
several times, and having seen the movie and the BBC mini-series
countless times(can there ever be another Mr. Darcy after seeing Colin Firth emerge
from the river in his wet, puffy white shirt…I think not!!) , I certainly know the story and
the characters extremely well.
I only say this because ,while it is not necessary to have this background
for savoring Longbou ...more

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