Tending to Elizabeth Bennet's petticoats

I’ve always imagined that, in a previous life, I was born a servant. When I’ve occasionally visited grand houses, I’m more drawn to the downstairs than to the sumptuous upstairs. For example, I vastly prefer the below-stairs “butler’s tour” at the Biltmore House in Asheville to viewing the upstairs of the great house. I was intrigued to learn that Biltmore had one of the country’s first electric washing machines and moisture extractors—a must to handle all the linens of visitors to the 250-room mansion—and I was charmed by the idea of an entire room, albeit tiny, devoted to making pastry.

So, the notion of Longbourn appealed to me immediately. And the novel by British writer Jo Baker didn’t disappoint.

Baker imagines the life and times of the staff who serve the fictional Bennet family of Pride and Prejudice fame. There’s Mrs. Hill, the housekeeper and main attendant to the flighty Mrs. Bennet, who refers to her simply as “Hill.” Hill’s husband combines duties of carriage driver and butler. Then, there are two maids, rescued from a life as orphans, the naïve Polly and Sarah, the book’s heroine.

Baker describes the backbreaking, soul-stealing work required of these servants to keep even a modestly middle-class family like the Bennets’ functioning. Baker’s serious research into domestic demands of the early-19th century households gives the story a convincing authenticity. She provides staggering details about, for example, the series of grinding tasks required just to do one day’s laundry. (No electric washing machine here…) London’s Guardian newspaper notes: “…the miseries of washday present a whole new perspective on Elizabeth's determination to tramp across muddy fields to Netherfield to be with Jane ("If Elizabeth had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she'd most likely be a sight more careful with them")

But all is not chilblains and 18-hour workdays below stairs. The staff share bonds of affection, and romance beckons, once a mysterious stranger joins the household.  Long-held secrets complicate the moral compass of some characters, and courage and integrity characterize others.

In all, Longbourn is a satisfying read. It doesn’t pander and doesn’t sentimentalize. Rather, it’s a fresh re-imagining of Jane Austen’s world where the downstairs world is every bit as fascinating as the lives of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

Jane Austen at WInchester

Two days after Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817, her sister Cassandra wrote to a relative “…her dear remains are to be deposited in the Cathedral…it is a satisfaction to me to think that they are to lie in a Building she admired so much…”

That “Building” was the great Winchester Cathedral where, today, visitors can pay homage to Austen, as well as admire the stunning nave and chantry chapels. A large ledger stone set in the floor in the north aisle of the nave marks the place where Austen is buried. The inscription, probably written by her brother Henry, reflects “the blended voices of a bereaved Christian family,” surmises English scholar Michael Wheeler, who wrote a slender booklet, Jane Austen and Winchester Cathedral a decade ago.

The inscription attests to Jane Austen’s character, “sweetness of her temper and the extraordinary endowments of her mind.” However, many visitors are surprised—as I was when I visited Winchester earlier this month—to see no mention of her literary fame on her gravestone.

At the time of her death at 41 (probably caused by Addison’s disease or cancer), Austen had published Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma; she was a recognized author, if not the acclaimed literary giant she later came to be considered. But Wheeler explains that many writers’ memorial stones did not mention their profession (Swift and Dickens, for example) at that time, and also argues that her spiritual gifts, not her worldly achievements were the focus of her tribute. Later additions to the area around her memorial stone—a brass plaque on the adjacent wall and a memorial window—do acknowledge her literary importance. The Cathedral also has erected a series of posters giving highlights of the author’s life, including her last days of illness in Winchester.

Austen probably was accorded burial in Winchester Cathedral, home also to the remains of Saxon kings and saints, because of her family connections, Wheeler speculates. It is known that her funeral took place in the early morning, to avoid conflict with morning prayer. The modest funeral party included her three brothers and a nephew, but not her beloved sister Cassandra.

 “…Women were not expected to attend funerals,” Wheeler remarks.