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)

Most depressing story ever!

You might think that this book, with the title "Longbourn" might be one of the books that try to mimic the writing style of Jane Austen - but not so! This is a story of the "downstairs" workers, as opposed to the "upstairs" characters in the Jane Austen book "Pride and Prejudice". The name of the house is where any similarity ends. Whereas in Jane Austen's book the characters are written with wit, with clever quips about the social structure in England; and include funny situations and intelligent observations - in this book every character and every situation is depressed! I kept waiting for the story to pick up and for at least one thing happy to happen in the story, but it never did! The only reason I listened to the whole thing was the expectation that there MUST be some good in this book! But there was't. It was filled with unhappy servants, severe punishments, terrible background stories for each character, and a lot of complaining. IF you want to read/listen to a book that is depressing, I'm not saying that the author, Jo Baker, isn't a descriptive writer of such things - but when I read or listen to a book I want to laugh, or figure out a mystery, or hear interesting anecdotes, or learn new things! When this book ended, I gave a big sigh of relief!

Extraordinary book (even w/o Pride & Prejudice)

I have generally hated P&P spinoffs -- too wordy, too internally focused and generally poorly written.

Not this one. Jo Baker is a literary writer and this novel stands on its own , as absorbing and interesting (even without the modest involvement of the P&P characters). These people have real lives, real struggles and problems and loves, and we sympathize with their strategic and hopeful efforts to maximize their future security and happiness. The Napoleonic Wars may not have had much effect on the Bennets, but it's very present for the lower classes, where the men were strongly urged to enlist without any understanding of the horrors of that war.

The limited glimpses we see of the Bennet family seems to round them out into real people, too -- Elizabeth is still a very nice person and generally considerate mistress, but it is clear that her maid's happiness and security is never really on her mind except as it pertains to Elizabeth's comfort. This is probably an accurate depiction of women such as she. Mrs. Bennet's efforts to have a male child - over and over and over - elicit some real sympathy for her and deepen our understanding of the source of her current flightiness.

I loved this book.

The dark side of Pride and Prejudice

Right off the bat, if you love Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, you might wish to skip this alternate look at their characters. Neither of them is presented favorable in this retelling of P&P. None of the Bennetts are likable, and the supple humor and wit of Jane Austen is completely missing. However, if you like historical fiction, especially a look at the hardships of life circa 1810, this has that in abundance. I enjoyed the romance between Sarah and James, and appreciated the discriptions of how much pure physical WORK it took to maintain a household during that period. But, was it nessecary to make the Bennetts so unlikable ?
Wonderful narration by Emma Fielding !

Great Book, Great Narrator!

Longbourn was very well written, beautiful prose, compelling characters. I couldn't stop listening to it and the narrator made it that much better. I listen to a lot of books and she is one of the best narrators I have heard (as good as Davina Porter, but younger sounding). Longbourn is a must read or rather listen as the case may be.

Reader Beware if you loved the Bennet Family

If you sought to take a beloved classic and twist all the characters from heroes to villains, you succeeded. True, the hardships and living conditions for house staff at that time where displayed accurately, but it seems you did so at the expense of a beloved author and her story.

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.

Superb!

If you like this genre and period, this novel is a pleasurable listen. It's a wonderful picture of "downstairs" life at that time. I especially enjoyed the narrator.

Masterfully imaginative piece!

This book was described very simply as a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of the servants, which made me both excited to read it, and also hesitant because I've read some pretty bad ones. That being said, this is NOT a retelling, in fact the Bennets take a back seat to the"belowstairs" lives of their servants. Told from the perspective of Mrs. Hill, the Bennet's housekeeper, and the the scullery maid, Sarah, we have a fresh perspective of life during the Regency era, and a slice of life for a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. I don't think I will ever look at Pride and Prejudice the same. I'll never be able to watch the BBC adaptation (1995 Colin Firth), and not want to follow "Hill" off camera after she's administered cordial for Mrs. Bennet's "poor nerves." A definite read for lovers of historical fiction.

I couldn't finish

What disappointed you about Longbourn?

No real plot or intrigue. I listened to 10 chapters, yet wasn't hooked in to the story.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jo Baker again?

No.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Emma Fielding?

She was fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment.

Slow and Wordy

This book borrows the situations and characters from Jane Austen but that's where the similarities end. This rendition is full of adjectives but slow on action. Unfortunate, because the concept was intriguing.