Longbourn by Jo Baker

Set within the world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn follows what is happening in the servants’ lives while Elizabeth, Darcy et al. are working through their misunderstandings and differences.

If you’re looking for a retelling of Pride and Prejudice you will be disappointed.  Longbourn is a different story with a few recognisable characters.  Jo Baker recreated some of the characters perfectly, such as Mr Collins, who was very much the same in both stories.  However, there were some, Lizzie for example, that didn’t gel with their P&P versions.

That said, if you’re looking for a well-researched historical novel, and want some fascinating insights into the day-to-day lives of servants in Jane Austen’s time, then you’ll love this.  I love historical novels and I enjoyed Jo Baker’s detailed descriptions.  There was romance, intrigue and suspense.  I would have liked the middle section of the book to be shorter to allow the romance to play out fully at the end, but I enjoyed this book for something more than the story itself.

About three quarters of the way through the book, I was itching to watch my taping of the original BBC series with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.  Before I reached the end I gave in, only to find that Episodes 2-4 wouldn’t work.  I still enjoyed 1, 5 and 6, but now I’ll have to fork out for a DVD of the series (I need Mr Darcy to tell m… I mean, Lizzie, how much he ardently admires and loves m… her).  However, I still have my Great Classics Library version of P&P to read.  Which brings me to:

The best bit of Longbourn:  Falling in love with Pride and Prejudice all over again.*sigh*

Postscript:  I wrote the above post in January, but only just realised I hadn't posted it yet.  Since writing this I have read P & P again, and my Valentine's Day present was a Jane Austen DVD collection - YAY!  Now I'm reading Emma.  Look what you've started, Jo Baker.