Bookstore

'Utterly absorbing and illuminating. Written with a sure and stylish hand. Gill Hornby's best book yet.' Esther Freud

__________________________

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MISS AUSTEN

On 21 January 1804, Anne Sharpe arrives at Godmersham Park in Kent to take up the position of governess. At 31 years old, she has no previous experience of either teaching or fine country houses. Her mother has died, and she has nowhere else to go. Anne is left with no choice. For her new charge - twelve-year-old Fanny Austen - Anne's arrival is all novelty and excitement.

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.

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.

Meanwhile Jane's brother, Henry, begins to take an unusually strong interest in the lovely young governess . . .

And from now on, Anne's days at Godmersham Park are numbered.
__________________________

Praise for Miss Austen and Gill Hornby

'The perfect book to wrap yourself around on a dark night' STYLIST

'The great joy of Miss Austen is that the reader feels immersed in a world that is convincingly Jane's from the first page. Miss Austen is a novel of great kindness, often unexpectedly moving, with much to say about the status of "invisible" older women. Above all, it's concerned with the triumph of small acts of goodness; you can't help feeling that Jane would have approved.' OBSERVER

'Without romanticising its period setting or underplaying the precariousness of any woman's position in this society, it celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty' SUNDAY TIMES

'This is a deeply imagined and deeply moving novel. Reading it made me happy and weepy in equally copious amounts.'
KAREN JOY FOWLER, author of The Jane Austen Bookclub

'Hornby is at her best describing the complex bonds between the "excellent women" of her story. She describes the horrors, but also the pleasures, of spinsterhood' THE TIMES

'It won't surprise me if this is one of the books of the year, it's a delight, one of those that you don't want to end.' RTE

'A charming novel... capturing the spirit of the brilliant sardonic Jane, and reminding the reader of how brutal life was for women in Austen's era, it's an ingenious and affecting embroidery on the fact of the author's life.' SUNDAY MIRROR

'Fans of Pride and Prejudice and Emma will enjoy this touching story[...] In her meticulously researched third novel, Gill Hornby skillfully imagines the correspondence between the sisters.' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Miss Austen is an ingenious imaginary explanationof how so many of Jane's lett

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