Denise

Oh dear, I should have listened to myself when I vowed not to read novels with Jane Austen's characters in them, it only leads to disappointment. I love Pride and Prejudice and the characters in it are very dear to me. I was hoping that this novel would finally be the one to do justice to Austen's characters. Unfortunately it was not. Before I go further I must state that this book was not horrible or awful and I ended up flying right through it because I did love reading about the servant characters that Baker has written about.

While reading this book I ended up cringing whenever Austen's characters showed up in the book. It is hard when you start a book with such high expectations (and even higher standards) to read about characters that you love being interpreted by someone else. I liked that Baker kept all the same events that happened in Pride and Prejudice and didn't try to add anything to that.

What I absolutely loved about this book was reading from the perspective of the servant characters. I loved getting to know and especially reading the back stories of Mrs. Hill, Sarah, and James. I was fascinated with them (and Polly as well even though I was a bit annoyed by her at times) and grew to love them. They all seemed to have such sad backgrounds that you couldn't help but hope for a brighter future for them all.

I am all for showing how those like Mrs. Hill, Sarah, and James lived during the time that Pride and Prejudice took place but why oh why did they have to be the Bennet family's servants. I would have loved this book if it had been some other family besides them. I would recommend this novel to someone who isn't as protective when it comes to the characters of Pride and Prejudice.