Photo: BBC
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice (and to cash in on the megasuccess of Downton Abbey), Knopf has just purchased Jo Baker’s Longbourn, a retelling of the Austen classic from the point of view of the Bennett servants. In addition to your usual downstairs intrigue and ironing tips, the book will “reveal the tragic consequences of the Napoleonic Wars and focus on a romance between a newly arrived footman and a housemaid, the novel’s main characters.†Movie rights have already been sold to Random House Studio and Focus Features. Okay, start dream-casting your new Mr. Darcy now. (Dan Stevens is 100 percent not allowed.)