Longbourn -- Jo BakerVolume One, Chapter Four

As mentioned in my 2014 Reading Goals post, I'm trying to add more adult fiction into my diet. And, as I like to chronicle this stuff, here I am, chronicling it.

Right now, I'm (obviously) reading Jo Baker's Longbourn, which is Pride and Prejudice from the servants' perspective. 

Feel free to read along! (If you end up posting about it, let me know in the comments and I'll link up.)

Basic rundown:

Sarah thinks about the men in her orbit (unsuitable for various reasons) and considers the different ways that the Bennet sisters (minus Mary, because Mary) charm young gentlemen (none of them work for her). She waits and waits and waits to meet the New Young Man, building the anticipation of the moment up so much that when it happens—and happens disastrously—she pretty much hates his guts on sight.

Other thoughts:

• It's a nice point that Baker makes about the in-between-ness of Sarah's station—as a housemaid, she's below the gentlefolk, but above the farmhands... and as she works for a semi-impoverished family who live in the country, there isn't much chance of her meeting eligible bachelors.
• I also really liked the description of Mr. B. being "only really present in the physical sense". Of course, after the last chapter, I'd love to get Mrs. Hill's take on that.
• Although Sarah was in some distress after her literal run-in with the new manservant—I'm going to have to work "cack-handed lummox" into my vocabulary—her back-and-forth with Mrs. Hill about the possibility of her leg falling off made me laugh out loud.

SO, WAIT. IS THIS GOING TO BE PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, LIKE, WITHIN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE?

If so, RAD!

Index.