Longbourn

by Jo Baker

This fictional book presents life at Longbourn (the Bennet household in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) from the perspective of the servants.  The book starts with four servants, a husband and wife and two young girls who were taken on as housemaids. 

It is quite an innovative idea and the author carries off the task quite well.  While the story mirrors the activities in Pride and Prejudice they are only given coincidental mention in the book except for the escapeds of Lydia running off with the scoundrel soldier.  She portrays the long hours of labour the staff have, the difficult work they have to do, washing clothes, cleaning stains, serving meals, cleaning and cleaning up after the family, helping the family dress, including dressing their hair.

The author doesn't attempt to write the way Jane Austen does, she writes in more modern, simple language and she doesn't do the character analysis that Austen does.  Three of the servants are quite reconciled to their fate, but the oldest girl longs to have love and a life beyond being a servant.

One new plot twist the author introduces is that Mr. Bennett, had a child out of wedlock with the Housekeeper, prior to his marriage to Mrs. Bennett.  The Housekeeper is devastated that he did not marry her and that she had to give their son to another family.  Mr. Bennett provides money to the family that adopts him and is told that the boy is doing well.  What they don't know is that their son ran away and became a soldier, fighting in Portugal and Spain against Napoleon.  At one point he gets separated from his troop. When he catches up with them he is whipped for desertion.  He continues to serve as a soldier until the soldiers are forced to retreat to the shore and they intend to return to England.  He doesn't return on the ships.  He wanders down the shore and is befriended by a woman and her daughter.  He helps them repair their fishing boat as they have no man to help them.  He also helps them fish.  But one day he decides he needs to leave and he signs on a merchant ship that travels between Europe and America.  When the ship lands in England he jumps ship and travels to Longbourn, where he asks for and is given a job as a footman.

Mr, Bennett and the Housekeeper know he is their son and are happy to have him there.  He and the older servant girl fall in love and things look like they will end well.  However, one day Lydia's Beau (future husband) tells the footman that he expects that he is a deserter and threatens to out him.  The footman flees, not telling anyone where he is going or why.

With the footman gone, the Housekeeper tells the older servant girl that a Footman of Mr. Bingley's would like to marry her, she thinks this would be a good alternative for the girl.  She declines the offer and sets off to be a maid to Elizabeth,  Mr. Darcy's bride.  While she has far less work, and far less harsh work in her new position she is unhappy.  She finds out from Mr.Bingley's footman that the man she loves is working on a road crew.  She ask's Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy for permission to leave her employment with them. They are puzzled as she admits they are treating her well.

She heads off to find him and evetually does. They return to Longbourn, with their baby, and are greeted warmly.

I enjoyed the story and the new twists she brought to the P& P tale.