Godmersham Park: The Sunday Times top ten bestseller by the acclaimed author of Miss Austen

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Elizabeth Austen is a particularly well-penned character, exemplifying the expected behavior of a lady of the house. Moreover, she proves herself to be a kind and loyal friend to Anne, encouraging her artistic pursuits and supporting her whenever possible. At times there's a sense of fun to the writing, something you get with Austen herself, and it's true that it feels like Godmersham feels at times idyllic. Anne is neither servant nor master so the loneliness of being between is felt so that she is ripe for what is to come when the household is enlivened by family guests.

Anne Sharp no es una mujer convencional, y ha decidido ganarse el pan, tras la muerte de su madre, y el supuesto abandono, incluso económico de su padre. A governess was neither part of the family nor part of the servant group so their lives would have been very lonely. Like many women of her time, Anne chose to become a governess because of unexpected circumstances and limited options. Admito que esto es una ficcionalización de un hecho real, y por tanto, se abre a dudas e interpretaciones, pero agradezco el libro por conocer a esta "figura oculta" que muestra la realidad de las mujeres trabajadoras de cierta clase en esa época. Anne is surrounded by her own drama, and although sheltered by the Austens, also there, without really knowing what her emotions and feelings are towards them, she begins to suffer, because although she is not a conventional character, she finds difficult to understand kindness without any payment, and herself, she didn't seem to control her own emotions very well.

When Anne’s eleven-year-old charge, Fanny, shows her the letters she has been receiving from her Aunt Jane (yes, that Jane), Anne finds them charming and immediately decides that Jane is her ‘favourite Austen’. There are definite echoes of Persuasion in Anne’s character but sadly she never achieves the happy ending of Anne Elliott. This story gives us a very plausible view of the life of the Austen family, including Jane, Cassandra, their mother, as well as Henry Austen, Edward, his wife Elizabeth and young Fanny.

stars but I did find it slightly tedious in the earlier chapters at times, just whilst getting into the story, but especially when Jane arrived it truly picked up. From the number one bestselling author of Miss Austen, a powerful and moving novel featuring Jane Austen's closest friend and confidante . Fanny wants to learn correct opinions on given subjects by rote and titters at the idea of foreign travel, proclaiming that she never even wants to leave Kent.

The book linked above was really good though so if you have interest in Jane Austen and her family, skip this book and read that one instead.

Reading Gill's novels always makes me want to re-read Jane Austen works but this time I'm also interested in looking up more non-fiction and would love to see Fanny's journals. While these flashbacks are usually fine, they do occasionally interrupt the flow of the story, ripping you from the present and thrusting you into another time and place. This book was loaded with daily life scenes and the restrictions placed on plotting that staying true to a governess’ circumstances would entail making it not one easy to hold the reader’s attention all the time, but mixed with the toils are little sparks of hope and triumph that historical fiction fans who like an authentic historical backdrop and character-driven gently-paced plot will appreciate.Henry on the other hand, moves between an Austenian hero with the misfortune of having a wife, and no fiancée, and on the other, someone who is a seducer, a kind of Willoughby, and it all seemed very strange to me. The story is more character than plot driven, which while not inherently bad, does cause the book to be quite slow-paced.