LONGBOURN by Jo Baker (fic)

I immensely enjoyed this book.  What Jo Baker has done with this novel is to build on Jane Austin's great novel, Pride and Prejudice which suits as the background to the story of the everyday life of the servants in the Bennets home, Longbourne, in Hampshire.  Baker is not pretending to be Jane Austin or to copy her writing.  Instead she has written a thoroughly entertaining novel that shows us the unglamourous side of the Bennet household.  The downstairs action is simultaneous with that of the drama upstairs.  The four servants and later a footman have their own drama that is every bit as engrossing as that of the Bennet girls and perhaps a tad more realistic of life in the 1820s. 

As the novel opens, the overriding concern of the servants is the visit of Mr. Collins, a cousin, who is likely to inherit Longbourne when Mr. Bennet dies, as there is no male heir in the Bennet family.  This is worrying to the servants as Mr. Collins, without a by-your-leave, could turn them out and replace them with his own people.  As you read on in the novel, you are always aware of how the story turns out for the Bennet family (if you haven't read the Pride and Prejudice you have most likely have seen one of the many dramatizations).  What you don't know is how these events affect the family living downstairs.  They are not related, except for Mr. and Mrs. Hill, but they form a caring group, closer than many families of the age.  Besides the Hills, there are Sarah and Polly, both of whom come from the local poorhouse as young girls, and James who was hired as a footman/coachman.  All these characters are overworked.  Mrs. Bennet, the high-strong mother,  is reliant on Mrs. Hill who has some mysterious connection to Mr. Bennet.  The entire house, up and downstairs is full of secrets that will keep you reading.  And, those charming young ladies we all love in the original book, leave lots of dirty laundry around for Sarah to clean.  Tromping through the fields and mud and rain, is not romantic when you are the one responsible for the washing and ironing.  Jane Austin's characters move about on the periphery of the servants' lives.  We meet them all, but they play very small rolls in the book.

 Like its parent book, a love story makes this novel interesting.  Sarah is bright, charming, brave and every bit as independent and definite as Elizabeth Bennet. James's story is central to the plot and affects all the other characters in one way or another. His early life gives the reader a realistic look at the Spanish campaign and army life.  Lively little Polly is almost led astray, and old Mr. Hill is keeping his own secrets.

All in all, the story moves apace, and the reader will find the book hard to put down.  I highly recommend this book to all who love Jane Austin and would like a different take on life in the Bennet home.  It is also a good choice for book groups, who may like to compare and contrast it with Austin's novel.