Longbourn

This lusciously imagined novel by Jo Baker is a literary spin-off of Pride and Prejudice. Longbourn is the manor of the Bennet family; and the book focuses on the world of the servants. The novel begins with the central character, Sarah, a housemaid, getting on with the business of washday. Simply gruelling. A startling insight into servanthood in regency England. Sarah is beginning to find service restrictive; she's young, she wants to see the world. Then a new footman hires on, and begins to turn the servants' world upside down, especially Sarah's. James Smith has secrets, though, and what he does to keep those secrets distresses everyone below stairs. A good read.