Book Review: Longbourn by Jo Baker

As I was approaching the end of Pride and Prejudice, I remembered that this book was on my library shelf, and it seemed a natural choice to follow that one. It follows the story of Pride and Prejudice, but that story is mainly in the background, occasionally affecting the arc of this novel, sometimes more than others. Here, Sarah works with Mrs. Hill and young Polly (and Mr. Hill, the butler, but he is so old he isn't much help) as servants in the Bennet household. It is grueling, endless work, and every party or social event just means more of it. For the servants, the entail is also a looming threat, as it brings the possibility that they will lose their positions and be sent away, parted from each other.
Still, they keep working hard, hoping that their work will be rewarded with security.
When a young man, James Smith, joins them in their work as footman, this all changes. Without being asked and without expecting thanks, he takes on some of Sarah's work, like starting the kitchen fires in the morning and filling the water tank with buckets from the well in the yard. And of course, he takes care of the horses and all of the other heavy work that never seemed to get done before he came.
He will not often meet her eye or talk to her, and she is unwillingly intrigued. He hides secrets, she knows, and he is always so silent. And then she is distracted: Ptolemy Bingley, footman to Mr. Bingley, flirts outrageously with her, and even though Mrs. Hill disapproves, Sarah is just drawn to him, sneaking glances and conversations.
But he leaves when Mr. Bingley goes to London, perhaps never to return. And James remains. As Sarah begins to unravel his secrets, Wickham begins to spend more time with the Bennet family, and he shows up everywhere, in the kitchen and hallways, and it seems he is most drawn to young Polly. Sarah and James both do their best to draw her away, but she is almost like a moth to a flame, flattered by his attention, the pennies he presses into her hand, the promise of sweets.
You can see where the trouble lies: too many secrets, too much hidden, too much to lose. This novel continues several months after the close of Pride and Prejudice, and in its end, there is also joy, but I think it may be the joy in this book is even sweeter than the joy at the end of Pride and Prejudice because it is won through greater hardship and against much greater odds.
Is is a story of faithfulness, of love for the family we have through blood and the family we have because we have chosen them, a story of hardship and courage and desperate strength. Read it if you love Pride and Prejudice; it shines an interesting light on the characters and their story. But also read it if you have never read Pride and Prejudice; it is simply a starkly beautiful book.