Books with title Longbourn

• Pride and Prejudice was only half the story • If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them. In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended. Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic—into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars—and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own. This ebook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.

A brilliantly imagined, irresistible below-stairs answer to Pride and Prejudice: a story of the romance, intrigue and drama among the servants of the Bennet household, a triumphant tale of defying society's expectations, and an illuminating glimpse of working-class lives in Regency England. The servants at Longbourn estate--only glancingly mentioned in Jane Austen's classic--take centre stage in Jo Baker's lively, cunning new novel. Here are the Bennets as we have never known them: seen through the eyes of those scrubbing the floors, cooking the meals, emptying the chamber pots. Our heroine is Sarah, an orphaned housemaid beginning to chafe against the boundaries of her class. When the militia marches into town, a new footman arrives under mysterious circumstances, and Sarah finds herself the object of the attentions of an ambitious young former slave working at neighboring Netherfield Hall, the carefully choreographed world downstairs at Longbourn threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, up-ended. From the stern but soft-hearted housekeeper to the starry-eyed kitchen maid, these new characters come vividly to life in this already beloved world. Jo Baker shows us what Jane Austen wouldn't in a captivating, wonderfully evocative, moving work of fiction.

Paperback. Pub Date :2014-01-01 Pages: 448 Language: English Publisher:. HarperCollins Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice below stairs - the story of romance. intrigue. and drama among the servants of the Bennet household A Richard & Judy Book Club pick. If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats. Sarah thought. she would be more careful not to tramp through muddy fields. It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House. and Sarahs hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs. ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper. is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman. bearing secrets and the scent of the sea.

The servants take center stage in this irresistibly imagined below-stairs answer to Pride and Prejudice. While Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters fuss over balls and husbands, Sarah, their orphaned housemaid, is beginning to chafe against her situation in life. And when a mysterious footman arrives at Longbourn, the orderly realm of the servants' hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended. Jo Baker reveals lives mentioned only fleetingly in Jane Austen's classic novel that has captivated the hearts of readers around the world for generations, daring to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Regency England into a vivid, fascinating, fully realized new world.

The servants take center stage in this irresistibly imagined below-stairs answer to Pride and Prejudice. While Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters fuss over balls and husbands, Sarah, their orphaned housemaid, is beginning to chafe against her situation in life. And when a mysterious footman arrives at Longbourn, the orderly realm of the servants' hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended. Jo Baker reveals lives mentioned only fleetingly in Jane Austen's classic novel that has captivated the hearts of readers around the world for generations, daring to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Regency England into a vivid, fascinating, fully realized new world.