Those who have read my rave review of Gill Hornby's Miss Austen won't be surprised that I also loved her Godmersham Park. Named after the estate of Jane Austen's older brother, Edward, the novel is a fictional retelling of several years in the life of Austen's friend Anne Sharp (sometimes spelled Sharpe). Little is known about the real Sharp's family background or early life. She really enters the historical record in 1804, when she arrived at Godmersham to serve as governess to Edward's daughter Fanny. Though she left Godmersham in 1806, the friendship she struck up with Jane Austen during those years flourished until Austen's death in 1817. Sharp went on to found a boarding school for girls in Liverpool's Everton district, where she died in 1853. (If you're curious about the historical Sharp, you can find excellent information here.)
As texts including Jane Austen's Emma make abundantly clear, young women did not become governesses for the fun of the job. Hornby
traces several years in the life of Anne Sharp, a friend of Jane Austen’s. In 1803, Sharp’s mother dies and her once affectionate father, Johnny, inexplicably drops off from contact. Anne, suddenly without a home at 31, seeks work as a governess, one of few professions open to women of her class. She finds a position at Godmersham Park, Kent, arriving there in 1804 to teach Fanny Austen, the 12-year-old daughter of Jane’s older brother Edward. Anne struggles with the job’s constrictions and the loneliness that comes from being considered neither gentry nor servant, which feels to her like living in “a small village set away from society, into which gossip from the capital arrived long after the event.” Fanny proves a bright pupil, but she’s confused by Henry, Edward’s younger brother, who makes his admiration for her plain despite being a married man. With Jane, an observant and intelligent single woman, Anne develops an enduring bond. Then Edward’s wife grows resentful of Henry’s affection for Anne, even as new information about the mysterious Johnny upends Anne’s beliefs about her past.
Hornby’s skillful mix of fact and fiction captures the complexities of the Austens and their era, and her crisp, nimble prose sparkles throughout. Best of all, Hornby genuinely channels the sentiment of 19th-century English literature (“Oh, the pleasure of having someone with whom to share her best thoughts,” Anne narrates about Jane). Janeites aren’t the only readers who will relish this smart, tender tale.