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A review by zena_ryder
Longbourn by Jo Baker
5.0
Oh, this is a wonderful book! If you're a fan of Pride and Prejudice, I highly recommend this story — which focuses on the servants at Longbourn, home of the Bennets. The story of Pride and Prejudice — balls and trips to London, Jane and Mr Bingley, Lydia and Wickham, Elizabeth and Mr Darcy — is all going on in the background. It adds a richness to your picture of English society at the time to read about the lives of their servants. Baker also embellishes the personal history of some of Austen's characters, so you come to have greater sympathy for Mrs Bennet and Mary, slightly less admiration for Elizabeth, and you are certainly less amused by Mr Bennet. You become even more disgusted by Wickham.
Baker also puts the events in a broader context. In Pride and Prejudice, the militia are simply dashing officers for Kitty and Lydia to flirt with. But Baker doesn't let the reader forget that England is at war with Napoleon and some of the action in Longbourn even takes place in Spain during the war. She touches on aspects of reality that Austen ignored — babies born out of wedlock, the unfairness of class, racism, homosexuality, back-breaking poverty, chamber pots, laudanum, mud, chilblains, lice...
The book is very well written, with some genuinely beautiful passages, and excellent characterization.
Some people have complained that this book "taints" the world of Pride and Prejudice. For me, it hasn't done that at all. I love Pride and Prejudice as much as ever (I'm current re-watching the Colin Firth version on DVD). It simply adds more layers and richness, which I think is only good.
Baker also puts the events in a broader context. In Pride and Prejudice, the militia are simply dashing officers for Kitty and Lydia to flirt with. But Baker doesn't let the reader forget that England is at war with Napoleon and some of the action in Longbourn even takes place in Spain during the war. She touches on aspects of reality that Austen ignored — babies born out of wedlock, the unfairness of class, racism, homosexuality, back-breaking poverty, chamber pots, laudanum, mud, chilblains, lice...
The book is very well written, with some genuinely beautiful passages, and excellent characterization.
Some people have complained that this book "taints" the world of Pride and Prejudice. For me, it hasn't done that at all. I love Pride and Prejudice as much as ever (I'm current re-watching the Colin Firth version on DVD). It simply adds more layers and richness, which I think is only good.