Longbourn

Jo Baker

Longbourn

Jo Baker
52 pages1-hour read
Fiction
Novel
Adult
Published in 2013

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Character List

Meet the key characters, with insights into their roles, motivations, and relationships—spoiler-free.

Major Characters

Sarah is a young housemaid at Longbourn who was orphaned as a child and sent to the parish workhouse before being taken in by the Longbourn housekeeper. Her life consists of an unending cycle of demanding, physically taxing domestic labor, contrasting sharply with the soft, leisurely lives of the Bennet daughters. Despite her gratitude for having food and shelter, she possesses a tender heart, a fierce need to be seen as an individual, and an intense yearning for a wider world beyond the small village of Meryton.

Key Relationships

Romantic Interest of James Smith

Ward and Employee of Margaret Hill

Coworker and Protector of Polly

Romantic Interest of Ptolemy Bingley

Employee of Elizabeth Bennet

Employee of Jane Bennet

James is a wiry, tanned, and deeply private young man who is newly hired as a footman for the Bennet household. He arrives at Longbourn with very few possessions and a guarded demeanor that masks a traumatic past. He is efficient, capable of hard labor, and possesses a strong moral compass, though he deliberately tries to maintain an unnoticeable profile to avoid drawing the attention of the locally stationed militia.

Key Relationships

Romantic Interest of Sarah

Employee of Margaret Hill

Employee of Mr. Bennet

Enemy of Mr. Wickham

Subordinate to Sergeant Pye

Protector of Polly

Margaret Hill is the pragmatic, hardworking housekeeper at Longbourn who runs the Bennet household with efficiency and quiet endurance. She has dedicated her life to service, finding solace and distraction in the rituals of domestic work while managing the complex dynamics of her small staff. Driven by a need for respectability and economic security, she serves as a protective matriarch to the younger servants while harboring her own private, longstanding burdens.

Key Relationships

Wife of Mr. Hill

Guardian and Supervisor of Sarah

Supervisor of James Smith

Guardian and Supervisor of Polly

Employee of Mr. Bennet

Employee of Mrs. Bennet

Mr. Wickham is a charismatic but predatory officer in the militia stationed in Meryton. He uses his charm to ingratiate himself with wealthy families while skulking around the servant quarters, offering coins to young maids. He possesses a keen, dangerous ability to spot vulnerabilities in others and poses a significant threat to the peace of the Longbourn household.

Key Relationships

Predator of Polly

Enemy of James Smith

Romantic Interest of Lydia Bennet

Supporting Characters

Polly is a twelve- or thirteen-year-old housemaid at Longbourn who was brought from the parish workhouse as a young child. Originally named Mary, she was renamed by her employers to avoid confusion with one of the Bennet daughters. She is an imaginative and playful child who struggles with the heavy physical toll of domestic labor, frequently seeking brief moments of respite and hiding from the more grueling tasks.

Key Relationships

Coworker and Ward of Sarah

Ward and Employee of Margaret Hill

Coworker of James Smith

Target of Mr. Wickham

Ptolemy is the biracial footman for the wealthy Bingley family, possessing the polished manners, wit, and appearance of a gentleman. Born to an enslaved mother and the elder Mr. Bingley, he enjoys a degree of social mobility and proudly carries his family name. He is ambitious, urbane, and vocal about his dreams of establishing a tobacco shop in London, representing a broader, more exotic world outside the rural confines of Meryton.

Key Relationships

Romantic Interest of Sarah

Rival of James Smith

Employee of Mr. Bingley

Acquaintance of Margaret Hill

Mr. Bennet is the master of the Longbourn estate and father to five daughters. He is a somber, somewhat detached gentleman who prefers the quiet retreat of his library to the chaotic social anxieties of his family. He possesses a complicated history with his servants and holds the ultimate authority over the household's employment and future.

Key Relationships

Husband of Mrs. Bennet

Father of Jane Bennet

Father of Elizabeth Bennet

Father of Lydia Bennet

Father of Kitty Bennet

Father of Mary Bennet

Employer of Margaret Hill

Employer of James Smith

Mrs. Bennet is the fretful, status-conscious mistress of Longbourn. Her primary preoccupation is securing advantageous marriages for her five daughters, driven by the anxiety that the estate is entailed away to a distant cousin. She remains entirely oblivious to the harsh realities and physical toll of the domestic labor that sustains her comfortable lifestyle.

Key Relationships

Wife of Mr. Bennet

Mother of Jane Bennet

Mother of Elizabeth Bennet

Mother of Lydia Bennet

Mother of Kitty Bennet

Mother of Mary Bennet

Employer of Margaret Hill

Jane is the eldest and most beautiful of the Bennet daughters. She is universally admired for her gentle, serene disposition and soft beauty, which serves as a sharp contrast to the calloused, exhausted reality of the maids who serve her. She is currently the object of affection for the wealthy newcomer to the neighborhood.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Mr. Bennet

Daughter of Mrs. Bennet

Sister of Elizabeth Bennet

Employer of Sarah

Romantic Interest of Mr. Bingley

Elizabeth is the witty, bright-eyed, and independent second daughter of the Bennet family. She values personal happiness and romantic love over practical economic arrangements. While she occasionally shows consideration for the servants, she remains largely insulated by her class privilege, unable to fully comprehend the realities of a servant's life.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Mr. Bennet

Daughter of Mrs. Bennet

Sister of Jane Bennet

Employer of Sarah

Romantic Interest of Mr. Darcy

Pursued by Mr. Collins

Lydia is the youngest Bennet daughter, characterized by her rowdy, flirtatious, and self-absorbed nature. She views the servants largely as instruments for her own convenience and is highly susceptible to the charms of the militia officers stationed in nearby Meryton, acting impulsively to satisfy her own desires.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Mr. Bennet

Daughter of Mrs. Bennet

Employer of Sarah

Romantic Interest of Mr. Wickham

Kitty is one of the younger Bennet daughters. She closely follows her sister Lydia's lead, spending much of her time flirting with officers and enjoying the leisurely life afforded to her by her family's social standing.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Mr. Bennet

Daughter of Mrs. Bennet

Sister of Lydia Bennet

Mary is the middle Bennet daughter. She is often isolated from her sisters' more lively activities, preferring to stay in her room playing the pianoforte and eventually gaining some attention from her mother when her sisters leave home.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Mr. Bennet

Daughter of Mrs. Bennet

Mr. Collins is a pompous, practical clergyman and the cousin who will inherit the Longbourn estate upon Mr. Bennet's death. He views marriage and household management as dutiful, transactional arrangements, interrogating the servants about the Bennet girls' domestic skills to assess their suitability for his practical needs.

Key Relationships

Cousin of Mr. Bennet

Suitor of Elizabeth Bennet

Suitor of Charlotte Lucas

Guest of Margaret Hill

Mr. Darcy is a tremendously wealthy gentleman whose immense privilege makes the laboring class entirely invisible to him. His interactions with the servants consist only of expecting doors to open and tasks to be completed, embodying the most extreme divide between the aristocratic leisure class and the domestic workers who sustain it.

Key Relationships

Romantic Interest of Elizabeth Bennet

Friend of Mr. Bingley

Employer of Sarah

Mr. Hill is the aging, increasingly infirm butler of Longbourn. He takes pride in his lifelong service, polishing silverware with spit to remove dried food, though his declining physical state causes constant worry for his wife. He maintains a quiet, respectable exterior that masks his own private complexities.

Key Relationships

Husband of Margaret Hill

Employee of Mr. Bennet

Mr. Bingley is an amiable, wealthy young gentleman who recently moved to the neighborhood. His arrival brings a flurry of excitement to the Bennet household, creating substantial extra work for the Longbourn servants as they prepare their employers for social engagements.

Key Relationships

Romantic Interest of Jane Bennet

Employer of Ptolemy Bingley

Friend of Mr. Darcy

Charlotte Lucas is a practical-minded friend of the Bennet family. Recognizing the limitations of her situation, she approaches marriage as an economic transaction rather than a romantic pursuit, accepting a proposal that guarantees her future security and a household to manage.

Key Relationships

Romantic Interest of Mr. Collins

Sergeant Pye is a cruel military commander from James's hidden past. He embodies the brutality and unchecked violence of war, frequently committing atrocities against civilians and leveraging his authority to exploit the vulnerable.

Key Relationships

Commander of James Smith