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

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Godmersham Park offers a compelling glimpse into the life of a 19th-century English governess. As shown through Anne, the governess’ position was a difficult and often lonely one – distrusted by fellow servants due to her perceived closeness to the family and kept at arm’s length by the family due to her status as a servant. She was accepted by neither upstairs nor downstairs, and Hornby masterfully conveys this isolated, precarious existence. In its moments of celebration, each family did reveal its true self. The Austens, she saw, were entirely contented unto themselves. There were no unsettling cross-currents of feeling, no signs of individual rancor or preference. They were all bound together by custom,

Sharp makes intentional choices – not based on her heart – but on logic and circumstance. She’s determined to support herself. And that’s hard not to respect even if I wanted her to do a couple of things differently. When Thomas May Knight died in 1781 his son, also named Thomas, inherited the estate. He and his wife, having no children, made a cousin Edward Austen the heir to Godmersham and to the Chawton estates in Hampshire. A few years after Thomas May Knight II’s death, his widow retired to Canterbury and in 1797 Edward Austen came to live in Godmersham. Fifteen years later, on Mrs Knight’s death, Edward changed his name to Knight as a fond tribute to his benefactors. But Anne is keenly aware that her new role is an awkward one: she is neither one of the servants nor one of the family, and to balance a position between the 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' members of the household is a diplomatic chess game. One wrong move may result in her instant dismissal. In 1804 the Knights hired a governess for their eldest daughter, Fanny, who was eleven. Henry’s friend recommended Anne Sharp. Raised in luxury, well educated, and pretty, with the death of Ann’s mother came poverty. Her father had disappeared from their lives and left her a mere 35 pounds per annum to live on. Anne donned plain garb, adjusted her attitude to fit into the role of lowly governess, and with dread reported to Godmersham Hall. When tempting this Austen lover with a new book, one merely need mention that it is based on real life figures in Jane Austen’s life, and I am hooked. By making it a governess’ tale with a mysterious past, I am well-nigh bewitched. I settled in eager for Godmersham Park, anticipating Gill Hornby’s thoughtfully considered development of characters, setting, historical context, and engaging plot.Despite her best endeavours, Anne finds that she is beginning to fall in love. But has her survival at Godmersham Park just become a good deal more precarious?

When Mr. Edward Austen’s family comes to stay, Anne forms an immediate attachment to Jane. They write plays together and enjoy long discussions. However, in the process, Anne reveals herself as not merely pretty, charming, and competent; she is clever too. Even her sleepy, complacent, mistress can hardly fail to notice. The governess role is a uniquely awkward one. Anne is neither one of the servants, nor one of the family, and to balance a position between the 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' members of the household is a diplomatic chess game. One wrong move may result in instant dismissal. Anne knows that she must never let down her guard. I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated Gill Hornby’s portrayal of a “governess’s lot” and her mostly impartial representation of the Godmersham family in this tale. Through Anne’s account readers are reminded how a governess was a friendless and isolated creature in the household and how a governess’s position is never secure and that they must be perpetually on guard for anything that might displease or concern their employers. In addition, Anne’s perspectives of Godmersham and all the Austens she encounters were most interesting to explore. I especially enjoyed her interactions and complex relationships with Elizabeth Austen and Jane’s favorite brother, Henry Austen. Both had such delicate and dangerous natures to them.Jane Austen is my girl. She has been my girl for more years than I’m able to count, and I can’t think of a day where she will not be, in fact, my girl. I was desperate to read this book for its dip into Jane’s life through the eyes of Anne Sharp, the governess of her family’s children.