Longbourn is not just nicely packaged fan fiction, or an austenian downton abbey. Longbourn book king county library system bibliocommons. Housemaid sarah often dreams of a life outside of servitude or of some kind of interesting change until mysterious new footman james smith arrives. Longbourn is the house in which jane austen set pride and prejudice. Jo bakers novel is the story of the servants who washed the bennet girls linen.
Now it just so happens that we do know quite a lot about the exact location of longbourn but just not quite enough to give us the degree of absolute cer. The action of longbourn doesnt consist of previously. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the bennet household. I expected to reexperience the plot of pride and prejudice from the perspective of those below the stairs. I will never read pride and prejudice or any novel about the upper classes in the same way again. Longbourn, by jo baker, is the tale of servants of longbourn house, the home of the bennet family from jane austens pride and predjudice.
Longbourn book austin public library bibliocommons. This study guide consists of approximately 121 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of longbourn. Though accurately mapped onto austens plot, longbourn makes flesh those ghostly presences who are scarcely mentioned. It also reminded me too much of the barrage of articles that condescendingly berate downton abbey fans for allegedly lapping up the program without wanting the truth about life. Longbourn is a heartbreaking, beautifully written, challenging novel that attempt to show what the regency might have been like for the servants of the bennets and the darcys. Help about wikipedia community portal recent changes contact page. The book offers an unflinching look at the unpleasant physical realities of life in the early nineteenth century, from chilblains and lice to hauling water on freezing mornings, polishing floors, scrubbing foodencrusted dishes, laundering filthy clothing, washing rags soaked with menstrual blood, and even. Longbourn quotes by jo baker meet your next favorite book. With a handsome new coachmans arrival, all the help is atwitter about where hes from. Like you, there were hints i should have picked up on ie.
Bennet and it is where his wife and five daughters live. And sarah was, she knew, as she slipped along the servants corridor, and then up the stairs to the attic to hang her her new dress on the rail, just one of the many shadows that ebbed and tugged at the edges of the light. Theres not much logic in how the plot of this book fits in with the abovestairs developments of pride and prejudice. Terms of service terms of sale site map help subscriptions. Longbourn book ottawa public library bibliocommons. You never know if it will meet your expectations or not. The servants at longbourn estateonly glancingly mentioned in jane. The unputdownable richard and judy pick 01 by baker, jo isbn. This is a story of the downstairs workers, as opposed to the upstairs characters in the jane austen book pride and prejudice. Theres dirty laundry and chilblains on the first page of longbourn, sweat and. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at longbourn as there is upstairs. A novel whose principal characters are the servants in jane austens pride and prejudice. Beloved books like pride and prejudice or gone with the wind, or.
A reimagining of jane austens pride and prejudice from the perspectives of its belowstairs servants captures the drama of the bennet household from the sideline viewpoint of sara, an orphaned housemaid. In longbourn, the housemaid sarahs frustration with the laundry would have been shared by anyone who cleaned clothes during the early 19th century. But with your help we can continue to put it center stage. This reimagining of jane austens pride and prejudice captures the drama of the bennet household from the sideline viewpoint of sarah, an orphaned housemaid. I was so shocked by the hill and mr bennet revelation. Elizabeth has no choice but to flee, and hope that her aunt and uncle will take her in.
That is the premise of jo bakers engrossing novel longbourn, which takes. O, the oprah magazine original and charming, even gripping, in its own right. You could fill a bookcase with prequels, sequels and other reworkings of. Baker has written an intoxicating love story but, also like. The plot starts very nicelyconvincingly, but it stalls and gets longish before getting back on tracks. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of longbourn by jo baker. Longbourn book north perth public library bibliocommons. The estate is entailed to the nearest male relative, which makes it impossible for the daughters to inherit. In this, the second book in this series, elizabeth must leave longbourn or be forced to marry mr.
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Longbourn book chicago public library bibliocommons. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants hall threatens to be. Longbourn book tacoma public library bibliocommons. Our heroine is sarah, an orphaned housemaid beginning to chafe. Theres not much logic in how the plot of this book fits in with the abovestairs developments of pride and. Longbourns resident songbird finds her happily ever after, and determines to help her sister, elizabeth, find hers. I really enjoyed longbourn, and devoured it pretty quickly. Longbourn book the seattle public library bibliocommons. Longbourn book johnson county library bibliocommons. Longbourn is a heartbreaking, beautifully written, challenging novel that attempt. These quibbles aside, i found longbourn to be a fascinating novel with unforgettable characters who i truly cared about.
Longbourn is a 20 novel by the british author jo baker. Daily telegraph uk this clever glimpse of austens universe through a window clouded by washday steam is so compelling it leaves you wanting to read the next chapter in the lives below stairs rather than. Baker includes enough of the plot of pride and prejudice so that an austen novice will. Its hard to believe that pride and prejudice is 200 years old this year. It has been translated into twentyone languages, was shortlisted for the ibw book award and is due be made into a film, directed by sharon maguire. Pride and prejudice has been read and reread by enchanted readers since its publication in 18. The room was dull now, and meaningless, with the young ladies gone from it. Longbourn is a book that stands alone as having its own story, characters and themeshow far has the author ensured her novel is not pastiche, that it is a novel with a separate identity. Longbourn by jo baker volume 3 chapters 11 20 summary and analysis. Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of vintage.
Longbourn was a book i had never heard of before which i liked delving into something completely unknown, apart from the fact that i adore and am wellread in austen. The protagonist is the young, pretty, feisty, overworked housemaid sarah, an orphan who turns to books for escape from the menial daily. It gives an alternative view of the events in jane austens pride and prejudice, telling the story from the perspective of the servants at longbourn, the bennet family home. Longbourn is an estate located in hertfordshire, near the town of meryton. As a jane austen spin off set from a servants point of view, longbourn attempts to tell the story of pride and prejudice from a completely new angle. A brilliantly imagined, irresistible belowstairs answer to pride and prejudice. Jo bakers novel is the story of the servants who washed the bennet girls linen, soothed mrs bennet when she was distressed, indulged mr bennet when they were obliged to indulge him and all the time carried on with their own unregarded lives. Longbourn, the estate dragon, insists that she does.
Longbourn book port moody public library bibliocommons. I found the plot sequence involving sarah at the end of the book to be. In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to pride and prejudice, the servants take center stage. Although longbourn begins slightly before pride and prejudice and continues beyond austens ending, for the most part it matches the action of that novel, focusing almost exclusively on the domestic staff. The book seemed to revel in rubbing ones nose in the reality of servants in the georgian period instead of building a compelling narrative and intriguing characters. Our modern process of sorting, dumping into a machine, pouring in soap, and pressing a button is an embarrasingly wonderful diminution of this once complicated and timeintensive process. The servants at longbourn estate, only glancingly mentioned in jane austens classic, take center stage in jo bakers lively, cunning new novel. To ask other readers questions about longbourn, please sign up. You might think that this book, with the title longbourn might be one of the books that try to mimic the writing style of jane austen but not so. English author jo bakers novel longbourn 20 is a retelling of jane austens 18 classic. A retelling of jane austens pride and prejudice from the servants perspective. Unfortunately i found this to be a stuffy contemporary literary novel in historical clothing, with none of the brio of austens own style and little insight to contribute about the characters or story of pride and prejudice.
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