Longbourn

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 has been translated into twenty-one languages, was shortlisted for the IBW Book Award[1] and is due to be made into a film, adapted by Angela Workman and Jessica Swale and directed by Sharon Maguire.

However, Sarah's attentions are quickly caught by a manservant at Netherfield Hall, a handsome black man who later reveals he is a former slave named Ptolemy Bingley.

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.

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.”[4] It was selected by The New York Times as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2013,[5] describing it as “a work that’s both original and charming, even gripping, in its own right”.

[6] Diane Johnson writing for The New York Times called the novel "an affecting look at the world of Pride and Prejudice, but from another point of view — the servants’ hall.".

[7] 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.

[8] In another review in The Washington Times, Claire Hopley praises the novel, stating that though it is not in the same style of Jane Austen, it still a "thoroughly researched description of the servants’ toil."

[9] 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 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.