25-741: Longbourn is a 2013 novel by the British author Jo Baker . It gives an alternative view of the events in Jane Austen 's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice , telling the story from the perspective of the servants at Longbourn, the Bennet family home. It was published by Doubleday in the UK and by Knopf in the US. It has been translated into twenty-one languages, was shortlisted for the IBW Book Award and
50-688: A PhD on the Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen . Baker lives in Lancaster with her husband, the playwright and screenwriter Daragh Carville , and their two children. Lady Day In the Western liturgical year , Lady Day is the common name in some English-speaking and Scandinavian countries of the Feast of the Annunciation , celebrated on 25 March to commemorate the annunciation of
75-547: A child together, eventually returning to Longbourn. The novel received positive reviews upon publication. The Daily Express said: “This clever glimpse of Austen's universe through a window clouded by washday steam is so compelling it leaves you wanting to read the next chapter in the lives below stairs.” It was selected by The New York Times as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2013, describing it as “a work that’s both original and charming, even gripping, in its own right”. Diane Johnson writing for The New York Times called
100-624: A handsome black man who later reveals he is a former slave named Ptolemy Bingley. Because of the relationship between the Bingleys and the Bennets, Ptolemy often comes to Netherfield and has the opportunity to talk to Sarah who is intrigued by him. On the night of the Netherfield ball Sarah is tasked with staying up all night to receive the family when they come home. She gets drunk and makes her way to Netherfield where she runs into Ptolemy and
125-518: Is able to he runs away and joins the army. In Spain he is tried as a deserter and whipped severely though he never intended to desert the army. Shocked by this betrayal he kills the man who tried him as a deserter and eventually does run away, only to return to work for Mr Bennet as he remembers him visiting him during his childhood and being kind to him. Sarah and Mrs Hill are distressed by James's sudden disappearance though they are unable to do much to learn of where he went. When Lydia elopes with Wickham
150-474: Is celebrated on 25 March each year. In the Catholic Church 's Latin liturgical rites , when 25 March falls during Holy Week or Easter week , it is transferred forward to the first suitable day during Eastertide . In Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism , it is never transferred, even if it falls on Pascha ( Easter ). The concurrence of these two feasts is called kyriopascha . The Feast of
175-665: Is counted as one of the 8 great feasts of the Lord, and not among the four great Marian feasts , although some prominent aspects of its liturgical observance are Marian. Two examples in liturgical Christianity of the importance attached to the Annunciation are the Angelus prayer and, especially in Roman Catholicism, the event's position as the first Joyful Mystery of the Dominican Rosary . In England, Lady Day
200-409: Is due to be made into a film, adapted by Angela Workman and Jessica Swale and directed by Sharon Maguire . The novel was in part inspired by the fact that Baker's ancestors had been in service. In an interview with Petra Mayer , Baker says, "I found something in the existing text that niggled me, that felt unresolved, and wanted to explore it further." She states that she feels this novel falls into
225-657: Is not in the same style of Jane Austen, it still a "thoroughly researched description of the servants’ toil." Hopley also notes that Baker's choice to include James' life in the Peninsula War is in response to Austen's critics who complain about the absence of the Napoleonic War in her novels. Carmela Ciuraru in USA Today warns readers of Longbourn who are looking for a different perspective on Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy they will be sorely disappointed because
250-526: Is the first of the four traditional English quarter days . The "(Our) Lady" is the Virgin Mary . The term derives from Middle English , when some nouns lost their genitive inflections. "Lady" would later gain an -s genitive ending, and therefore the name means "(Our) Lady's day". The day commemorates the tradition of archangel Gabriel 's announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the Christ . It
275-631: The archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would bear Jesus Christ , the Son of God . The commemorated event is known in the 1549 prayer book of Edward VI and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as "The Annunciation of the (Blessed) Virgin Mary" but more accurately (as in the modern Calendar of the Church of England ) termed "The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary". It
SECTION 10
#1732779828267300-602: The Annunciation is observed almost universally throughout Christianity, especially within Orthodoxy , Anglicanism , Catholicism , and Lutheranism . It is a major Marian feast, classified as a solemnity in the Catholic Church , a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Communion . In Orthodox Christianity , because it announces the incarnation of Christ, it
325-515: The Bennet family with whom she still resides along with the other servants including the married Mr and Mrs Hill and the much younger Polly. Because of the Peninsular War , manservants are scarce. However, Mrs Hill is able to employ James Smith, a handsome but mysterious man whom Sarah is initially intrigued by. However, Sarah's attentions are quickly caught by a manservant at Netherfield Hall,
350-499: The army and threatens to tell Mr. Bennet unless James leaves on his own. In the middle of the night James abandons the Bennet home which is only discovered by Polly and Mrs Hill in the morning. A flashback reveals that James is the illegitimate son of Mrs Hill and Mr Bennet and that Mr Hill is gay and Mrs Hill married him to fend off rumours and to protect her own name. James is raised by the Smiths, neighbouring farmers, but as soon as he
375-559: The book focuses on the hard lives of Regency-era servants. She ends her review by calling the work a "bold novel, subversive in ways that prove surprising, and brilliant on every level" that stays true to the wit of Jane Austen and adds new perspectives and sympathies to the lives of servants. Jo Baker (novelist) Jo Baker is a British writer. She is the author of six novels, including Longbourn . She has also written short stories for BBC Radio 4 and reviews for The Guardian and The New York Times Book Review . In 2018, she
400-675: The eleven "lost days" of the calendar change in 1752). Until this change Lady Day had been used as the start of the legal year but also the end of the fiscal and tax year . This should be distinguished from the liturgical and historical year. As a year-end and quarter-day that conveniently did not fall within or between the seasons for ploughing and harvesting, Lady Day was a traditional day on which year-long contracts between landowners and tenant farmers would begin and end in England and nearby lands (although there were regional variations). Farmers' time of "entry" into new farms and onto new fields
425-401: The house is turned over in turmoil and Mrs Hill reminds Mr Bennet of all he did for Lydia while not lifting a finger for his son. Elizabeth eventually becomes engaged to Mr Darcy and asks Sarah to work for her as her lady's maid . Ptolemy Bingley, still working for Mr Bingley returns and proposes to Sarah. Though Mrs Hill is in favour of the match Sarah decides to leave with Elizabeth. Though
450-536: The novel "an affecting look at the world of Pride and Prejudice , but from another point of view — the servants’ hall.". Although Hannah Rosefield, writing in The Guardian , questioned the subtlety of the book's approach, she praised it for "lovely moments" brought about by Sarah's point of view. In another review in The Washington Times , Claire Hopley praises the novel, stating that though it
475-566: The same category as Jean Rhys's response to Jane Eyre and Tom Stoppard's response to Hamlet . In addition to her inspiration, Baker discusses the character of Mr Bennet: she believes that TV and film adaptations have made him a "cozier" character than in Austen's novel. Baker feels that she has upheld Austen's Mr Bennet by making him "partial and very jaded" in Longbourn. Sarah is a young woman of marrying age. Orphaned, she came to work for
500-488: The two begin a secret sexual relationship. Elizabeth goes to visit the newly married Charlotte Collins and takes Sarah with her to London and Hunsford. Sarah does not meet Ptolemy on her travels and is more than happy to return to the Bennet household. However James has grown suspicious of Wickham , who frequently tries to befriend the staff, especially Polly. After catching a drunk Wickham trying to kiss Polly he hits him. Wickham reveals that he suspects that James has deserted
525-420: The two share a drunken kiss. Shortly after he reveals that the entire Bingley family is returning to London. Sarah decides to join him, running away in the night, but James follows her and begs her to at least write a letter in advance so that she will not be socially ruined. Sarah kisses James in order to have a point of comparison with Ptolemy. She feels a closer connection with James and returns home with him and
SECTION 20
#1732779828267550-529: The work is much easier for Sarah, she despises life at Pemberly. The day before Lady Day , Mr Bingley and Jane visit the Darcys. Ptolemy Bingley is with them and tells Sarah that he has seen James. On Lady Day Sarah abruptly quits Mrs Darcy's service and goes looking for James. Polly eventually becomes a teacher, Mr Hill dies, and Mrs Hill spends most of the rest of her days with an increasingly mournful Mr Bennet. Sarah does catch up to James and they eventually have
575-729: Was New Year's Day (i.e., the new year began on 25 March) from 1155 until 1752, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted in Great Britain and its Empire and with it the first of January as the official start of the year in England, Wales and Ireland. (Scotland changed its new year's day to 1 January in 1600, but retained the Julian calendar until 1752.) A vestige of this remains in the United Kingdom's tax year , which ends on 5 April, or "Old Lady Day", (i.e., Lady Day adjusted for
600-605: Was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at the Queen's University Belfast , and she is currently an Honorary Fellow at Lancaster University . Baker was born and grew up in the village of Arkholme , in Lancashire , England. She was educated at Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale , and Somerville College, Oxford . She moved to Belfast in 1995 to study for an MA in Irish literature at Queen's University, where she went on to complete
625-523: Was often this day. As a result, farming families who were changing farms would travel from the old farm to the new one on Lady Day. In 1752, the British empire finally followed most of western Europe in switching to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar. The Julian lagged 11 days behind the Gregorian, and hence 25 March in the Old Style calendar became 5 April ("Old Lady Day"), which assumed
#266733