Longbourn

By: Jo Baker

Narrated by: Emma Fielding

Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

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 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.

©2013 Jo Baker (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A triumph: a splendid tribute to Austen’s original but, more importantly, a joy in its own right, a novel that contrives both to provoke the intellect and, ultimately, to stop the heart.... Like Austen, Baker has written an intoxicating love story but, also like Austen, the pleasure of her novel lies in its wit and fierce intelligence.... Baker not only creates a richly imagined story of her own but recasts Austen’s novel in a startlingly fresh light.... Inspired." (The Guardian)

Wonderful story, wonderfully read

I love this narrator so much that I’ve listened to this book three times already. Highly recommend this book to all.

Beautiful corrective to Regency fantasy

After a slow start, this turned into a wonderful book! Keep with it. Loved the weaving plot lines and echoes of Pride and Prejudice, and the layers it adds, like geological strata, to that novel.

Pride and Prejudice

Would you consider the audio edition of Longbourn to be better than the print version?

Not better than the text version but complements the novel beautifully.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really liked the character of Mrs Hill. Without using spoilers, Baker's representation of Hill (one of the characters present in Austen's Pride and Prejudice) is wonderful. Hill is portrayed as a woman of courage, intelligence and honour. She deeply cares for all around her and her marriage is shown as one of convenience but one where both partners gain from the association. I think that Jo Baker's portrayal of Hill would have made a 21st century Austen proud but may have shocked the original.

What about Emma Fielding’s performance did you like?

Emma Fielding's narration was a joy to listen to. It was understated and not intrusive to the story. Her diction was excellent and her voices were perfect and not exaggerated.

If you could take any character from Longbourn out to dinner, who would it be and why?

James. James's life as described by Baker, is fascinating. He could contribute so much to a dinner time conversation as his life spanned war service, domestic service, a secret which he needs to protect, the secret of his origins which he is not aware of and true love which he would die for. He is a fascinating 3-D character who adds much to the storyline.

Any additional comments?

I have read a few Pride and Prejudice modernizations and this is by far the best. It is well written and the characterisations and plot developments are well constructed and not contrived. For all those who love Austen's novel, read this one. You will not be sorry.

wonderful love story

wonderful love story beautifully told! I will definitely be re-listening to this over and over!!!

Loved Downton Abbey Longbourn is scandalous and delightful

Ok so maybe 1 major scandal but it rakes in so many characters
The reading is lovely

Everything

Everything I always wanted and everything I didn’t know I needed. This was an amazing well put together story. It’s absolutely filled and see missing perspective that I didn’t know I had to know! I enjoyed every minute of this book.

Enjoyable on audio

I had read this story several years ago. It is just as interesting on audio, and I discovered a lot of details, including plot twists, that I'd forgotten. It was rather like reading a variation on a long ago favorite.
The part I had forgotten follows one of the characters back in earlier days, and didn't add much to the story for me.
The reader was good for this type of story, disappearing quickly into the background.

Enjoyed this as much as my first read of Pride & Prejudice

This is a story after Jane Austen’s own heart. - beautifully written, depth of characters, witty, touching,, and with a heroine and hero to match any of Austen’s. The narrator was excellent- one of the best i have listened to. dovetailing the storyline with pride & prejudice was not overdone, but just enough to make it it familiar and fun to revisit the characters. Revealing what it was like from the servants perspective added so much to the original pride and prejudice story. But it stands on its own, and is just a beautiful book. . One thing that stood out was how she captured the language of the time period but also managed to make it more relatable to the current generations,more so than Jane Austen might be now. But , if you enjoyed Pride and prejudice- you will love this book.

A beautiful well-written piece of fiction

Where does Longbourn rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the best audiobook I have listened to. The narration is superb. So much so that you feel like you are experiencing the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character is Sarah. She has led a hard life and very much dreams of a better one. I can feel her longing.

Which character – as performed by Emma Fielding – was your favorite?

Sarah and Mrs. Hill as performed by Emma Fielding are my favorites.

If you could rename Longbourn, what would you call it?

I would rename Longbourn "In Pursuit of Dreams" or "The Longing"

Any additional comments?

An unbelievably well-written book . The prose will blow you away. It will captivate you and take you into its spell and not let you go until the very last word.

Total lack of humor

The book is called a tribute to Jane Austen, but I have no idea, how such a needlessly long and boring work, totally lacking any kind of that humor and wit we all love in Miss Austen, can be considered a tribute. The author just couldn't think of any original story of her own, so she used the beloved novel as a basis for her mediocre handiwork, spoiling any parts of it she touched in the process.