Jo Baker, Longbourn

Whenever I visit a National Trust or an English Heritage property I'm always interested to see the kitchens and servants quarters, probably because in another life that would be my job, working as a maid in the big house (just like my Nana), so I was very intrigued by Longbourn - which retells Pride and Prejudice from the servants perceptive.

Pride and Prejudice has been rewritten a couple of times before (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Death Comes to Pemberley) but Jo Baker's novel really brings a fresh perspective to the story, and I think even enhances the original.

The Plot:  As vivacious and forthright as Elizabeth Bennett, but lacking the same opportunities and status, Sarah is a housemaid at Longbourn. With sore hands Sarah toils to make the Bennett family comfortable, but the daily grind is interrupted by two new footmen, both of whom have secrets and an interest in Sarah.

To avoid spoilers my opinion is under the jump:-

unpicked

"Those clear grey eyes of hers; you could see she was always thinking. She peered at him like he was a slipped stitch: unforeseen, infuriating, just asking to be unpicked." 

- Jo Baker, Longbourn