Longbourn -- Jo BakerVolume One, Chapter Six

As mentioned in my 2014 Reading Goals post, I'm trying to add more adult fiction into my diet. And, as I like to chronicle this stuff, here I am, chronicling it.

Right now, I'm (obviously) reading Jo Baker's Longbourn, which is Pride and Prejudice from the servants' perspective. 

Feel free to read along! (If you end up posting about it, let me know in the comments and I'll link up.)

Basic rundown:

Mrs. Bennet asks Mrs. Hill to be her go-between with Mr. Bennet, and to convince him to let her get the girls fitted out with new dresses.

Sarah gets sent to Netherfield to bring Mr. Bingley an invitation to a Family Dinner.

Other thoughts:

• This is quite a lot more sympathetic towards Mrs. Bennet than any other portrayal I've seen. Like, she has a point about the dresses: the girls are commodities, basically, and they need to look their best if they're going to reel in someone with enough money to allow the rest of the family to live comfortably after Mr. Bennet's death and ownership of Longbourn is transferred to Mr. Collins.
• I find it somewhat depressing that Mrs. Bennet knows that requests are more likely to be met if she has Mrs. Hill ask than if she asks herself. At the same time, points to her for knowing how to manipulate the situation, I guess.
• But, of course, the second I feel for her, I think of the other major thing that happened during that scene: she gave Mrs. Hill her yellow silk dress, and in so doing, A) totally dismissed the amount of work the servants had done to clean it after the last time she wore it and B) shows an utter lack of understanding about Mrs. Hill's life. Like, where's she supposed to wear a flouncy yellow silk dress? When she's making dinner?
• That footman at Netherfield is VERY handsome and VERY flirty, two factors that throw Sarah even more than the fact that he's the first black man she's ever seen in person: So was he what they called a black man, then, even though he was brown?
• Speaking of being thrown, the conversation about where Bingley's money comes from threw ME. Because, sugar. And sugar = slavery.
• Polly is reminding me more and more of Lydia.
• James is quite well educated in re: the sugar trade. Something that Sarah comments on, but then Tempers Flare and Conversation Gets Heated.

Index.