Longbourn

Jane Austen fan fiction is nothing new, but it can rarely have been done with such skill and imagination as in Jo Baker's Longbourn. It seems unfair even to call this novel fan fiction for, although it is set in the same milieu as Pride and Prejudice, Baker's characters inhabit a world entirely of her own creation. Events here cleverly match up with Austen's plot, but everything is seen from another point of view. For her characters are the servants to Austen's Bennet family, shadows that come to life thanks to Baker's imagination and thorough, though lightly-worn, research. It's fascinating to hear what toil, sweet and tears it took to keep the Bennet household running, what blood, guts and trauma were involved in the war talked of so flippantly. Themes are shared between the two novels, themes current in society at the time I imagine, in particular poverty, freedom and the nature of love. But, historical detail aside, this is really a coming-of-age story as the young housemaid Sarah deals with her own battles in love – that's what makes it such a compelling read.