I thoroughly enjoyed this book about Fanny Knight, a niece of Jane Austen, At the age of 27 Fanny is worried that she will become a spinster so when she receives an unexpected proposal from Sir Edward Knatchbull, she accepts it. To her dismay, the long engagement she hoped for is shortened to seven weeks and she is encumbered with a large number of children from his first marriage. Fanny is not a particularly engaging character. She bows to her husband's will and he is quite awful. A rigid and uninspiring man. When one of Fanny's brothers elopes with Edward's oldest daughter it leads to an estrangement between the two families. One thing that comes across very strongly is how dangerous childbirth was for women in those days. I think I'd have stayed single.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I now have to seek out Godmerston Park, the prequel to this.

After seeing the recent series of Miss Austen on the BBC I was excited to read this one. I love a period drama and this one transports you right back to the time of Jane Austen. Such a great read for all fans of Austen.

A sometimes enjoyable foray back to the Knight family home and following Fanny to a new marriage and stepfamily. I was surprised by how much I disliked Fanny and her interactions with her siblings and stepdaughter in this book-having found her completely tolerable in Godmersham Park. She seemed to me to completely shed her previous character, though her family seemed unfazed by her behaviour so perhaps not!?

This one lacked the intrigue of Miss Austen for me. It got caught up in dull interactions between unlikeable characters in the first half- and the titular elopement eluded the reader. Only after about 60%, did it became much faster paced and interesting.

I enjoyed the period detail, and the easygoing Knight family tales. I found Sir Edward and Fanny rather tough to endure as their character arcs went nowhere- just more of the same on each reacquaintance.

3.5*. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of The Elopement

I was very happy to have the chance to read The Elopement. It is entertaining and charming, with wonderful descriptions. It’s a richly detailed story of family, duty, marriage, death…and of course an elopement. It was fascinating to see how Fanny Knight copes when she marries Sir Edward Knatchbull and becomes stepmother to his children, including Mary Dorothea, about whom she has such good intentions but never quite manages to fulfil them. I warmed to Mary Dorothea the most. She has integrity and loyalty. The Elopement is a really enjoyable read, beautifully written in the style of Jane Austen by Gill Hornby. Perfect for Austen fans. I loved it!

After watching the latest Austen drama on BBC, it wasn't long before I felt eager to pick this one up and immerse myself in an Austen world again. With wonderful descriptions, I was soon transported into this tale and appreciated the author's writing style once more.

A lovely read.

got this book as an ARC from Netgalley. It has not been on my shelf for long. I read and enjoyed Miss Austen by the same author. Set in London and presumably the Bath area of Jane Austen's own life, although really the book only refers to the names of the Country estates where the characters reside. The characters are, I think, Based but not a re imagination of those created by Austen in her works. The mainttable thing for me is that they are utterly bland and forgettable and deeply unlikeable. As a cast I found them very dreary and the narratve surrounding them banal, unexciting and oh so long winded.
This should have been a book to really capture me - A modern classic relating back to one of tradition but it simply failed to capture my imagination.

I think the Author would have to plot a new novel, very different to this to make me want to read her again but I get the feeling she has become embroiled in the "austenesque" storytelling.

When I can get my hands on any kind of Jane Auten adjacent fiction, I am in. Many do not have the skill or the quality of writing and do not provide the joy I find when picking up a Gill Hornby novel, however. I raved about Miss Austen and Godmersham Park, and the Elopement is just as good. It is perfect if you are wondering what happened next in the Hornby-telling of the wider Austin family, and if you have either a book or TV series hangover from Miss Austin. (I thought that the BBC series was a lovely adaptation!)
The novel provides us with an insight into English upper-class life in the 1800s, the role and view of women, and gives us heroes and villains that make it a proper good read. Anyone else want to give Fanny a slap?
Pure escapism from a worrying and stressful world. I loved it!

If you liked Miss Austen then I thoroughly recommend this book.
This book centres around Edward Knight and his family and focuses on Fanny Knight and Mary Knatchbull. Based on true events, it's fascinating how woman were treated, how their lives were mapped out for them by their father's and just how many children they all had!
I love that Cassandra Austen still features heavily in their lives.

I was delighted to receive an ARC of Gill Hornby’s latest book which tells more about the Austen family and again involves Cassandra Austen.
It continues the story of Fanny Knight which started in Godmersham Park and tells of her marriage to Sir Edward Knatchbull and her relationship with Edward’s daughter,Mary Dorothea.
Mary becomes involved with the Knight family as a result of being Fanny’s stepdaughter ,and the story is told from both of their points of view.When Mary falls in love with Fanny’s brother Ned ,things become complicated,(without giving away too much of the plot).
The book is written in the style of Jane Austen and is both humorous and poignant .It really emphasises the way women were treated as their fathers’ possessions ,with little say in what happened to them.
I enjoyed the book very much and was sorry when it ended.Definitely one to recommend to Jane Austen fans.

A charming read bringing the Austen family and their descendants to life. I do admit there are parts in the first half that seem to slow the pace of the story but the second half more than makes up for it. Enjoyable and moreish. A lovely read.

Thank you Netgalley

Having really enjoyed Gill Hornby’s other Jane Austen related novels I was delighted to be given the opportunity to read and review ‘The Elopement’. I was soon immersed in the world of the Austen Knights and their very large extended family.
The author gives several characters a voice meaning that we, as readers, can see the narrative develop from different points of view. This makes the story so much more well rounded than just one characters perspective and gives an insight into everyday life for a family like the Knights and the expectations that society had for them and how some still managed to defy them.
It also gives us a chance to catch up with Cassandra Austen, still a fierce champion of her sister, Jane, and see her continuing importance as she takes her place in the families of her nieces and nephews.
I very much enjoyed The Elopement and would recommend it without hesitation.

Rooted in the histories of Austen's relations, this book brings a whole cast of characters to life. Between them they are warm, funny, frustrating and at times ridiculous, but all very human.

I picked this book up expecting the whirlwind romance of the elopement to take centre stage, but the story covers so much more. Taking place over the span of nearly twenty years, there are plenty of personal dramas along the way to keep it entertaining (the elopement is also very much a romantic whirlwind, never fear).

I loved getting to explore all the different relationships and dynamics over time, and was just as invested in Mary 's relationship with her new stepmother Fanny, and the challenges they faced, as I was in the romance with Ned.

Gill Hornby once again welcomes us into the rich and complex history of the Austen family. This time we meet her niece, Fanny, as a grown woman and follow her as she navigates being a wife and mother and leaving behind her beloved family with her loyalties split.

I enjoyed the added perspective of her step daughter, Mary, and the slow and steady unfolding of her relationship. I found the book enjoyable with flawed and real characters. Another great blend of history and imagination

A must for any Jane Austen fan. This is an utterly charming book based on the family of Jane's brother Edward, written in what can only be described as an Austenesque style. He arranges for his eldest daughter to marry a local widower with a young family. This is her role - to be a wife, a mother, to run a household, and defer, at all times to her husband. She attempts to form a relationship with his only daughter, but not as successfully as she would hope. Both families, living closely to each other, socialise in ways familiar to any reader of Austen's novel - balls, dinners, trips to London, relationships are formed, hopes are dashed.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and would recommend it to anyone.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for an ARC.

Oh Hurrah, Gill Hornby is back with another Austen Adjacent novel. I could not have been happier to delve into the lives of those families that Gravitated around and just after the life of the ever present Jane. Yet again the lessons and themes of her glorious novels affect and transform lives even posthumously.

However I am getting ahead of myself, This is at it’s core the tale of two Orphans whose formative years are so similar and yet characters diverge. So drastically.. Fanny Knight, Daughter of Jane’s brother James and Mary Dorothea Knatchbull who becomes (through a marriage of sensible decision rather than great passion) her Step-Daughter.

It was a simple plot but woven through with a complexity of inner voices that showed just how wide and varied the human condition and experience can truly be..

I understood Fanny and her convictions, but I did not much warm to her. She was capable of loves and honour but seemed unable to form an independent thought outside the confines of what she saw as her responsibility to the men in her life. Gill Hornby paints her so clearly. If we were comparing -perhaps a combination of poor Mary Bennett and Charlotte Lucas. I felt oddly sorry for her as she alone could have been the catalyst for good in a lot of the failed romance in the book.

Mary Dorothea on the other hand was much more sympathetic and again, a full and rounded version of her sprang off the page. I was rooting for her and her relationship from the very first and was profoundly moved by her story. I love the numerous siblings who float in and out but it is the Aunts in this book that truly deserve praise. Adored them both.

A truly lovable rogue and gentleman is the romantic lead, who frankly I have a bit of a crush on too now. That this and other romances truly existed ( even gussied up with artistic license) fills my little soft heart.!

This book is so much more a companion to Jane’s great novels (As Miss Austen was before) than so many of the prequels, homages and reimagining that have been published. You feel that Pemberley, Netherfield and Mansfield could exist in harmony with Godmersham and Hatch!

I devoured this book after a reading slump and it gave me so much joy and has galvanised a return to certain of Jane’s…. In this case Persuasian.. Read The Elopement and find out why!! Gill Hornby is a expert at imagining personality and inner voices for people that exist often as side characters in the journals of others. She creates real people who mean much to a reader. I loved this book. And look forward to any other family history that Gill Hornby may feel impelled to pen.

Just my sort of read. The period of Jane Austen. This novel tells the tale of some relatives of Jane Austen, just after her death. It was based on the journals of a niece of Jane Austen, with some artistic license as the gaps had to be filled in. How difficult it was for ladies of the “aristocracy” when it came to marriage. It makes one appreciate how times have changed for the better when it comes to choosing a partner. The times were well described and I could imagine the countryside and homes they lived in. Escapism really as this style of life was certainly not what most of the population had to deal with at the time. Great character descriptions and a love stories for many of the couples/ladies.

What an enjoyable read. I loved every minute of it and was so sorry when I reached the end. Gill Hornby gives a brilliant depiction of the world of Jane Austen.- in fact it was like stepping into a new Jane Austen novel, except the characters were not fictional. I knew very little about Jane Austen's extended family when I started reading this book. - how the widowed Sir Edward Knatchbull, a man of strict principles, marries Miss Fanny Knight of Godmerscham Park,. Through this arrangement, his only daughter Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is consequently drawn into Fanny's larger family circle, of several brothers and sisters, as well as her aunt MIss Cassandra Austen of Chawton, the sister of the late Jane Austen. Mary's life, which until then has been quite lonely and joyless, starts to blossom. Fanny's brothers are handsome, full of life and charming and Mary starts to form a special bond with the eldest Ned Knight in particular. Marriage would appear to be on the horizon, given how much the couple are in love and each from a good family, however would that it were that simple ...............

Gill's eye for period detail, the language of the time, the wit, grace and elegance of style is wonderful. The way her characters are so sharply observed, as well as the plot developments, could be straight out of novels from Jane Austen herself.

I would definitely recommend this very enjoyable read.

This is a compelling page turner of a book. Using different perspectives the reader is drawn in to the small world of Jane Austen’s family. It’s very vividly depicted and the characters are three dimensional.

Based on the real-life diaries of Fanny, Gill Hornby has managed to bring the whole cast vividly to life, along with their opinions and characteristics.

It’s very enjoyable and even though I do not normally read historical fiction, this is the exception to the rule. Well worth the time taken to read, to be immersed in a different world and time, led by an expert.

I think if you are a big fan of Jane Austen and want to read around her life (and family's life) then the books by Gill Hornby are possibly interesting. I read "Godmersham Park" a while back and that had some good links to Jane Austen but in "The Elopement" a lot of time has passed and she is no longer around. Based on the memoirs of Fanny (maybe a niece) this was far too tenuous and far too long for me. Bits were interesting but I just felt it went on and on and on. Think that's me done for the Jane Austen family dynasty for the moment.

This was brilliantly written and very detailed- you can only imagine the hours and hours of research that have gone into it. Fanny was a strange character- I sometimes felt sorry for her, she often exasperated me and generally I think she let down all the step children she “took on”. Mary was a great character- immensely likeable and I really felt sorry for her and her total inability to ever please Sir Edward and the mother. Fab book, really enjoyed it.