Jo baker, whose belowstairs account of the world of pride and prejudice is longbourn photo. If longbourn is received as a delicious concoction of pride and prejudice meets downton abbey, then, for commercial reasons, no one will feel sorry for jo baker, but for artistic ones, she will have been treated unfairly. Jo baker is the author of six novels, most recently longbourn and a country road, a tree. An absorbing and moving story about the servants at longbourn.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Free download or read online longbourn pdf epub book. Jo baker author of longbourn meet your next favorite book. Miami herald if you are a jane austen fan with a pronounced predilection for pride and prejudice, you will devour jo bakers ingenious longbourn as the ambrosia from the austen gods it is.
Jo bakers retelling of pride and prejudice from the servants perspective. Longbourn by jo baker, 9780552779517, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. Jo bakers thoroughly researched description of the servants toil expands the tiny piece of ivory that jane austen worked on. The servants at longbourn estateonly glancingly mentioned in jane austens classictake centre stage in jo bakers lively, cunning new novel. Its hard to believe that pride and prejudice is 200 years old this year.
Jo baker was born in lancashire, england, and educated at oxford university and queens university belfast. Jo baker is a literary writer and this novel stands on its own, as absorbing and interesting even without the modest involvement of. She has also written for bbc radio 4, and her short stories have been included in a number of anthologies. Longbourn, by jo baker, is the tale of servants of longbourn house, the home of the bennet family from jane austens pride and predjudice.
Jo bakers longbourn retells the events of pride and prejudice from the point of view of the servants. 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. Jo baker is a novelist with a gift for intimate and atmospheric storytelling. Jo bakers novel is the story of the servants who washed the bennet girls linen, soothed. Jo baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of jane austens classicinto the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starryeyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in regency england during the napoleonic warsand, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized. Longbourn by jo baker meet your next favorite book. Baker tells npr books editor petra mayer that the predicament of the bennet sisters is well. In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to pride and prejudice, the servants take center stage. Jo baker, quote from longbourn she wondered what it was like to know that you were to be married, that you would have a home, an income, that you were set up for life. Life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and iron will by mrs hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and. If you are a jane austen fan with a pronounced predilection for pride and prejudice, you will devour jo bakers ingenious longbourn as the ambrosia from the austen gods it is.
If elizabeth bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, sarah often thought, she. Her previous uk novels are offcomer, the mermaids child, and the telling. To have achieved all this simply by agreeing to put up with one particular man until he died. Housemaid sarah often dreams of a life outside of servitude or of some kind of interesting change until mysterious new footman james smith arrives. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak and intrigue downstairs at longbourn as there is upstairs. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 352 pages and is available in hardcover format. Longbourn is the house in which jane austen set pride and prejudice. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of longbourn by jo baker. Its an idea that could have felt derivative or sycophantic in its execution, and yet the novel is rich, engrossing, and filled with fascinating observation.
Although she has published three previous novels in the uk, the undertow was her first us publication. Jo baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of jane austens classic into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starryeyed 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. Longbourn is a story about the servants who live in the bennet family home. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the. 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. Beloved books like pride and prejudice or gone with the wind, or. Baker is a real and very fine writer, and longbourn stands on its own as an engrossing, intelligent historical novel. From the same stream that fed austens literary imagination, baker has drawn forth something entirely new and fresh.
Neither a sequel nor a disappointment, its an affecting look at the world of pride and prejudice, but from. If elizabeth bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, sarah thought, she would be more careful not to tramp through muddy fields. English author jo bakers novel longbourn 20 is a retelling of jane austens 18 classic pride and prejudice told from the perspective of the servants at the bennet familys longbourn estate, where much of the original novel takes place. 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. It should be said at once that jo bakers longbourn is an exception. The author makes no attempt to imitate austens style, and pays relatively little attention to austens major characters. It was released in 2012, followed by longbourn in 20. She is the author of the undertow and of three earlier novels published in the united kingdom.
Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone. Spinoffs and sequels to pride and prejudice are a dime a dozen, so it takes something quite extraordinary to make readers take note. Longbourn is a 20 novel by the british author jo baker. Jo bakers interesting novel focuses on the downstairs life at longbourn, the house where the bennets of pride and prejudice live. It is washday in the bennet household, and sarahs hands are chapped and raw. Pdf longbourn book by jo baker free download 352 pages. She wrote books such as the picture book and offcomer.
I will never read pride and prejudice or any novel about the upper classes in the same way again. An irresistible retake on pride and prejudice alters the familiar perspective by foregrounding a different version of eventsthe servants. Daring to reconfigure what many would regard as literary perfection, baker the undertow, 2012, etc. These quibbles aside, i found longbourn to be a fascinating novel with unforgettable characters who i truly cared about. Pride and prejudice was only half the story if elizabeth bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, sarah often thought, shed most likely be a sight more. Pride and prejudice recently, do you know the significance in pride and prejudice of the whipping that sarah witnesses in longbourn. Longbourn by jo baker, 9780804171618, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Jo baker, retelling pride and prejudice from the servants perspective, has no interest in period prettiness. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants hall threatens to. Pride and prejudice was only half the story if elizabeth bennet ha. Longbourn is a book that stands alone as having its own story.
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