The doorstep at Gracechurch Street in London, for instance, is scrubbed so clean that when Sarah first visits, accompanying Elizabeth as a lady’s maid, she feels a new sympathy for the Gardiners housemaid. Baker is especially convincing when she writes from the perspective of those responsible for cleaning things. That’s because although they have aspirations, disappointments and problems, the servants never stop working. In fact, key interactions from Pride and Prejudice only have casual impact in Longbourn, if at all. Where does he come from? Can he be trusted? The examples of Sarah’s employers and their circle don’t help her with her own love interest. It seems strange to Sarah that, during the Napoleonic wars, an able-bodied man such as James Smith should be working at Longbourn as a footman.

But life belowstairs is so entirely separate from the lives of the Bennets, Bingleys and Darcys, and her concerns so very different.

While serving at social functions, Sarah notices how the Bennet sisters interact with men. The main character is housemaid Sarah, who washes out the family linens, sweeps and scrubs the floors, empties out the chamber pots, and wonders how the mysterious new footman James Smith might factor in her life. With Longbourn, named for the Bennet house near the fictional village Meryton, novelist Jo Baker commemorates this anniversary by introducing a whole new cast of characters: the servants. James have embroidered on and reimagined its characters, and this year marks the novel’s 200th anniversary. Writers over the years from Julia Barrett to P.D. Will we ever get enough of Jane Austen or Pride and Prejudice? Few novels have inspired the industry of sequels, pastiches, films and TV adaptations this one has.

Longbourn novel