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

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Contending with crippling headaches, mistreatment by the cook and staff, constrained in a limited role, lonely and uncertain, Anne also has another problem. The handsome Henry Austen. He is a danger to her, his attention unwelcome, her attraction hopeless. When his sister Jane arrives, she is nearly his image, sharing his openness, wit, and high spirits. Jane treats Anne as an equal and their friendship slowly blooms for both are literary and secretly write.

Meanwhile Jane's brother, Henry, begins to take an unusually strong interest in the lovely young governess . . .The more peripheral characters, namely the other Austen family members and servants, are also worthy of praise. They are fleshed-out the ideal amount for secondary characters and contribute to the story in meaningful ways, avoiding the pitfall of so many ancillary characters – superfluity. Elizabeth Austen is a particularly well-penned character, exemplifying the expected behavior of a lady of the house. She is courteous to her servants, Anne included, but ultimately, she is their superior in rank, a fact which underlies her every interaction with them. Anne’s also plagued with headaches and other health issues, and the Austen family goes to surprisingly great lengths to help their favorite governess. When Jane, her sister Cassandra, and mother come to stay at Godmersham Park, it’s a turning point in Anne’s life. She and Jane become the dearest of friends and for once Anne’s free of loneliness. Their friendship lasts throughout Jane’s life. I loved learning in the author’s note that a rare copy of Emma was given to Anne by Jane with a handwritten inscription to her dear friend.

Pensaba leer esta novela más tarde, pero me sorprendió hace dos semanas en la librería y claro tuve que cogerla, porque tras Miss Austen, una novela que me pareció una maravilla, esta también está firmada por Gill Hornby y de nuevo se recoge una figura del ambiente de Jane Austen. It focuses so much on these three characters and tangentially on Elizabeth Austen, her daughter, Miss Harris and some other character that appears in the form of a "cameo", that later it is difficult to understand the relationship with other characters such as Cassandra or Edward, who was the master of the house, but appears very little, although it is natural because he delegated the house to his wife.Inspired by diaries and excellent research, this is a lovely, flowing and insightful story of what might have happened in the Austen household - Godmersham Park. The house still exists but it's not a home anymore. What I loved was to be able to visit this place when the Austens were there. To have the chance to look through the windows and see historical and literary events take place. Robert Tritton died in 1957. [14] Following the death of Elsie Tritton in 1983, [8] Godmersham Park was sold to John Bernard Sunley. The estate management company Sunley Farms Limited, which is 100% owned by Sunciera Holdings Corporation in Panama, is the owner of Godmersham Park. [15] THE PREMISE: A fictional look at Anne Sharp’s relationship to the Austen family. She served as a governess for Fanny Austen Knight for only two years, and was befriended by our dear Jane Austen and bequeathed items upon her death. Why did Anne become a governess? How close was her relationship with Jane Austen? What was the Austen family really like? MY THOUGHTS: After greatly admiring and adoring Gill Hornby’s brillint Miss Austen, I was beyond excited to learn that her next novel focused on another intriguing person in Jane Austen’s life. And that this novel would not only portray their close friendship, but also imagine the shadowy parts of Anne’s life. I’m, of course, interested in anyone who has a slight connection to the Austen family, but I’m especially intrigued about Anne because of her position as governess. Anne Sharp arrives in Kent as an unknown thirty-one year old woman whom the Edward Austen’s have hired sight unseen through the influence of a family acquaintance to fill the role of governess to their oldest daughter, Fanny. This is their first experience with a governess and her own first time as a governess.

Hornby has a great deal of fun with the conventions of the genre. There is a comically lecherous lawyer, a grand house, a dashing hero, a mysterious family secret and, of course, an independent and dynamic protagonist. It is said of Anne that “she was simply a creature of the most passionate nature… she felt intensely; where she loved, there she loved absolutely”. It is with the authorial equivalent of a theatrical wink that Hornby suggests “this had already caused her some conflict and drama”, and this meta-literary quality pervades the book. No wonder that Anne’s employer sighs: “I’ve read a great many novels, Miss Sharpe. I know all about the wild adventures of the good-looking governess.” By the end of this generous-spirited and thoroughly enjoyable book, so will the reader and they will relish them. Much of the author's research came from the diaries of Fanny Austen Knight who Anne looked after for several years at the house. She was Jane's niece and the daughter of Elizabeth Austen, The book moves slowly and there are Bridgerton and Downton Abbey vibes as the estate and landscape are brilliantly evoked as are the dresses and customs of the day. The author has done a really good job of bringing the time and society of that time to life as to the worry that women, whatever their station, worried about and had to face.Ultimately though, I felt that Godmersham Park did the real Anne Sharp few favours. It impugned her family honour, played down her clear teaching abilities and reduced her to a bedraggled scrap. We know almost nothing about Anne Sharp. It is true that Cassandra Austen wrote her a snippy letter indicating that Anne was showing excessive grief given that Cassandra was the one who experiencing a true bereavement. Perhaps Anne really was emotional. But surely she also had some wit if she was a worthy friend to Jane Austen? Anne Sharp survived as a lone woman - and not just survived, actually triumphed - against all possible odds. Gill Hornby's depiction never quite captures the steel which that must have required. Godmersham Park was built in 1732 for Thomas May, replacing an earlier Elizabethan house, Ford House, owned by the Brodnax family. In 1742, by which time May had changed his name to Knight, he enclosed a park around the estate, which was then known as Ford Park. [3] The wings were added in 1780. [1] Knight died in 1781 and the estate was inherited by his son Thomas. Following his death in 1794, the house was inherited by Edward Austen, brother of Jane Austen. [3] He was a cousin of the Knights and had been adopted by them in the early 1780s. [4] Following the death of his adoptive mother Catherine in 1812, Austen changed his name to Knight. [5] [6]