Longbourn

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What to expect

If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah thought, she would be more careful not to trudge through muddy fields.

It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and bleeding. Domestic life below stairs, ruled tenderly and forcefully by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman smelling of the sea, and bearing secrets.

For in Georgian England, there is a world the young ladies in the drawing room will never know, a world of poverty, love, and brutal war.

Critics Review

A reimagining of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants . . . A joy
Guardian
A genuinely fresh perspective on the tale of the Bennet household . . . Baker confronts the darker elements of eighteenth century life . . . The result is engrossing - and a lot of fun
Sunday Times
A really special book, and not only because its author writes like an angel
Daily Mail
Delightfully audacious . . . a work that's both original and charming, even gripping
New York Times Book Review
Intoxicating . . . A joy in its own right, a novel that contrives both to provoke the intellect and, ultimately, to stop the heart
Guardian
To twist something so familiar into something quite fresh is impressive . . . Baker takes ownership of this world without mimicking Austen's style, asserting instead her own distinctive voice . . . An engrossing tale we neither know nor expect
Sunday Telegraph
An Austen lover has the satisfaction of matching the novel chapter for chapter
Observer
Just enough Darcy to delight, as well as being a fascinating insight into the harsh working conditions of life in a grand house two hundred years ago
Good Housekeeping
Jo Baker takes the reader on a journey back to a version of Regency England that is as much about poverty and war as social comedy and romance
Metro
This clever glimpse of Austen's universe clouded by washday steam is so compelling it leaves you wanting to read the next chapter in the lives below stairs
Daily Express

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