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Sep 21, 2017lostintheshelves rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is one of very few perfect novels I have read. It answers the question I always had about those Jane Austen novels where women need to marry for money--what about the actual flesh and blood women who worked for a living?--but the truth is that the characters, especially Sarah, became so fully realized in my head I forgot about the point being made and was entirely sucked into their world. (I listened to the audiobook while driving, and after a while I couldn't wait to get back to the car and be immersed in another world.) I suppose it might not be for those who only want the pretty parts of Jane Austen, but I come from people who did manual labor, and I loved seeing a woman with all the limitations of that life get to be the center of the story. This book stands on its own, but for those who care, the way Baker meshes her plot with Pride and Prejudice (and builds entire plot arcs on Austen's few throwaway lines about the servants) is brilliant.