• 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 … 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.
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I usually avoid books that appear to be rip offs of other successful books but this one seemed to have a little different approach so I gave it a try. I was not disappointed. This book has the original characters in the background of the story. The book is well written and concentrates on the “downstairs” characters. Very enjoyable.
And now another Bennet girl has had her story told. And I think that Jane Austin would heartily approve of the life created in Longbourn once the rest of the Bennet have moved on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
For fans of Pride and Prejudice the downstairs view.
Period pieces that have shown us “upstairs/ downstairs” have often romanticized the “master/ servant” relationship to benevolence patting the heads of grateful loyal child like or brutish creatures (save for the wise and dignified head butler/house mistress) that must be lost without their rightful places downstairs. Basically the happy slave narrative.
Not so here. While no uprisings are plotted, we’re not spared the precarious situation that servants held nor the painful physicality of their labors. The inner lives of the staff is explored with “upstairs” only outlined as the vacuous privileged, unaware of the perils that their demands entail. This- not in an enslaved culture but where laborers were “free”. And yet. Some may find the tale moving at a pace that fails to stir. I devoured this book – very well written and developed.
Loved the twist of upstairs downstairs
This book has an interesting premise that is very well executed. It has great writing and strong characters living out their lives against the backdrop of the events of Pride and Prejudice. I most appreciated the way it wove the events of these characters in with the events of Pride and Prejudice, and how it slowly revealed the characters’ secrets, layer after layer. It was very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
A wonderfully evocative book, and a fascinating twist on Pride and Prejudice, taking us behind the scenes in the Bennett household. Beautifully written.
When I started reading this, I had no idea that it was a different take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. What a great idea, such an interesting and enlightening story. I loved this book. I loved the way it was laid out in sections. I cared about the characters. I am now rereading P & P, haven’t read it in over 30 years, am really enjoying it and enjoying what I now know is going on below stairs. Highly recommend this, you’ll enjoy it even if you don’t know anything about Jane Austen.
I recommend this book for the great story it told about life as it was not as perceived by the casual on-looker. In a different time, pregnancy out of wedlock was treated so cruelly to maintain status for some. Hopefully those days are in the past.
Interesting idea.
This is not the typical Pride and Prejudice spin off. This book is much more realistic but in a way just as romantic as the original. The Bennet sisters, while true to the book, are not the main characters, and they certainly suffer a little under the realistic perspective of the servants. Was impressed with the quality of the writing and the take on the story.
Really interesting retelling of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice told from the servants’ point of view.
I loved this book and have recommended it to a fellow Austen fan.
It was well-written, the vocabulary was appropriate for the early 1800s – made it seem like an accompaniment to Pride and Prejudice.
Any “Jane-ite” should read this. It is a whole new way to look at “Pride and Prejudice”, and an important addition to our Austen-world. I will never read Austen again without thinking of this book, and the work and effort that goes into every day life, every ball, every household task. Thoroughly entertaining, but eye-opening too to the life Jane Austen wrote so beautifully about.
A real look at the working folks at Longbourn, a totally different perspective than the “well off”
All comments selected above plus marvelous immersion in setting. For Austen fans, a perfect choice.
Clever take on Pride and Prejudice taken from the perspective of the servants.
This book follows the story of Pride and Prejudice, but as the young Sarah’s romance develops with the footman, it becomes a more moderm style, which I found disappointing.\. It’s informative and interesting.
Being a fan of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey, I knew I would enjoy this tale also. Lots of characters, interaction and great writing!