Another lovely read from the author of Miss Austen.

This is a further dramatisation of the story of the Austen family - with the usual mix of love versus suitability, men v women, and of course social expectations.

Many dramas happen throughout the story, and there's a whole mixture of emotions going on with the characters.

An easy, comfortable and entertaining read.

One of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s a delight - by turns refreshing, funny, romantic, poignant, touching and always very alight to both the flaws and the charms of its characters and their interactions with each other. So many authors are called an inheritor to Jane Austen it’s almost lost all meaning, but this really lives up to that label - both in the social satire and the depth of feeling. I found myself picking it up again to read just a bit more while I should have been doing other things.

It’s based on the true story of some of Jane and Cassandra Austen’s relations, and as such doesn’t follow all the narrative conventions you’d expect, it’s not strictly a romance novel. But it’s deeply satisfying.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Only when reading the epilogue did I come to understand why I disliked Fanny, one of the protagonists, so much – the novelist wrote from Fanny's diaries, which she kept from the age of 11 to her late 80s. I kept wondering why one of the main characters, with whom we are given access to her thoughts, was so very disagreeable and downright mean at times. Then it made sense - the novelist had to follow the material she had and make it as readable as possible. But Mary Dorothea, the other main character, her daughter by marriage, was much more compelling.

I should have remembered that there was a family tree at the beginning of the book to refer to; it was hard to keep all of the characters straight.

I don't regret reading this novel; I enjoyed her first one on the subject, Miss Austen (turned into a period drama), but didn't find it as wonderful of a reading experience as the first.

A well researched book set in Jane Austen’s family. We start with her niece Fanny being married. A great reflection of the lack of choices for women of the time and both the danger and the importance of producing heirs.

The fact that some of the characters were pretty hideous reflects on the time and I think Austen herself would have enjoyed the human depictions of her family.

I loved the nods to Austen as the story unfolded.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the copy to review.

It was great that I had recently read Godmersham Park so to almost jump straight back in was fantastic.

So rich in History and a beautiful yet sometimes tough read with how the world worked back then.

I loved following the Austin’s and their descendants . I’m a big fan of Jane Austin and this did not disappoint.

One of my favourite books is Pride and Prejudice so I was really looking forward to reading The Elopement, a novel about Jane Austen’s family. One of the main characters is Fanny Knight, a niece of Janet Austen who having lost her mother at a young age helped her father run the household until she married a widower when she was in her late twenties. As with Pride and Prejudice what this book shows so clearly is the class divide during these times. Women had no control over their own lives and although the only escape was to marry, only a suitor from the same social class as their own was acceptable. It would not do to marry someone of an inferior class and love just didn’t come into a suitable match. Fanny waited a long time for a suitable husband and could so easily have been left running her father’s household. Quite surprisingly this did not make her more empathetic with her younger sisters and she was quite willing to pass judgment on her sisters and her stepdaughter’s potential husbands.
There is talk in the novel between two of the characters of equality between the sexes but that does seem a long way off even though one match made did appear to be more of a partnership.
This was a delightful novel made even more enjoyable by the appearance of Cassandra Austen who played such an important role in the lives of some of her brother’s children. I adored it!
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for an advance copy in return for a honest review.

Gill Hornby has followed up Miss Austen and Godmersham Park with the story of Fanny Knight and Mary Dorothea Knatchbull., set in the early Nineteenth century. Fanny marries Mary’s widowed father, Sir Edward, an older, stern, strict man with a fiery temper, who struck me as being a bit too much of a stereotype. So Fanny becomes Mary’s stepmother. The pair do not hit it off but Mary becomes close to Fanny’s siblings.
Because it is called The Elopement we assume that such a thing will happen at some point. Relationships which didn’t meet the approval of families forced young people to elope to Gretna Green from England in those days.
The book starts off with a prologue featuring Cassandra Austen, sister of Jane and aunt to Fanny, and refers to an “event “ which I took to mean an elopement. The story then focuses on Fanny and her proposal from Sir Edward. Fanny was a real person and the book is in part based on her real-life diaries as the author admits in a note. However, I found Fanny to be a largely unsympathetic character and also one who had little perception of what was really going on around her.. As a wife, she is completely subservient to her husband which of course women mainly had to be at that time but I didn’t really feel any sympathy for her as a character because of how she treated her step-daughter, Mary. Mary is the most sympathetic character in the book and the narrative switches from Fanny to her for a lot of the novel and became more interesting.
As a historical novel it does examine how women faced great difficulties in finding a husband: it usually wasn’t up to them to choose the man. Their father often made the choice for them. But I liked how Mary developed into a strong and independent woman despite her circumstances and predicament. If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Brontes it’s for you, though the narrative did jump about a bit and the male characters are rather underdeveloped. Towards the end it felt a bit rushed whereas the pace at the start was a bit slow.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for an advance copy in return for a honest review.

I enjoyed this so much!

The Elopement is the delightful story of Mary Dorothea Knatchbull and her relationship with the Austen (or Austen Knight) family. It's a wonderfully romantic story woven around Jane Austen's real family and their history and told in a thoroughly creditable Austenesque manner. It's very clever and very readable.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it was interesting, romantic and very informative. I enjoyed the array of characters and the relationships between the Knights and Knuckbulls. I have made a few notes for spelling/ grammar if I could email them to anyone if they would be of use please let me know. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in period dramas, history and romance. Thank you for sending me the book to read and review and I look forward to any future books you publish.

Great story of the descendants of Jane Austen… and how love and responsibility can shape our actions, whoever we are.

Gill Hornby is great author who has the ability to use her imagination to build on the factual diaries of Fanny Austen (as was)… and turn it into a story that is engaging and yet felt very realistic. Good characterisation, dialogue and events mean that I enjoyed every minute.

When I started this book, I hadn’t realised that it was the third in a series - with the first being televised on BBC1 at present “Miss Austen”. Great characterisation and revolves around Fanny, Miss Austen’s niece - and her siblings and family sagas.

I really enjoyed this book - and then went straight back to read Miss Austen - which I had purchased several years ago!

4.5*

A fascinating and very enjoyable read. A great follow up to the author's last book; this time we follow the story of Jane Austen's niece, Fanny, who marries a widower. His daughter, Mary, then falls in love with Fanny's brother, Ned, with great opposition from her father.

What happens when two women, bound by a common household, find themselves at odds?

In the Elopement, Gill Hornby continues her rich and observational exploration of the extended Austen clan, this time imagining the private dramas that might have shaped the lives of Fanny Knatchbull (nee Knight) and her stepdaughter, Mary Dorothea Knatchbull. Set in the regency era where genteel expectations and social constraints govern all, especially women, Hornby highlights the quiet tensions and rebellious undercurrents of two families bound by propriety than by affection.

Elegant, informative, and persuasively intriguing (there is an elopement, after all) the book casts a wide conjectural net on the relationship between the two women bound by duty, familial bond, and simmering tensions. Drawing on personal diaries and letters of correspondence, Hornby builds a richly textured fictional narrative around recorded gaps in history.

Hornby’s sharp eye picks up on the silent sacrifices and snubs buried within the daily jottings of Fanny’s diary, which speaks volumes about her fraught relation with her stepchildren in her own household, especially the eldest Mary Dorothea.

When we first meet Fanny, she is in overwhelmed by the unexpected news of her engagement to Mr Knatchbull, a widower. Her surprise at the proposal (she thought she was too old) and her subsequent short betrothal, and swift relocation to, the Knatchbull residence sets novels events in motion. There she meets Mary Dorothea, the eldest of her husband’s children. Their early encounters are overwrought with polite interactions, leading to painfully awkward conversations and half-hearted attempts at bonding — like taking morning tea together, are ignored or forgotten — one cannot say with certainty.

Fanny appears unfazed, choosing instead to focus on building a new family with Mr Knatchbull. When she learns that are siblings are thriving without her, it leaves her bereft, but rather than turn her attention towards her new stepchildren, they remain largely absent from her thoughts, save for the occasional fleeting remark about their schooling.

As the narrative progresses, Mary Dorothea begins to stand out, not just to the reader, but to Fanny’s own family, who speaking admiringly of her vivacity, beauty, and eloquence as they frame their observation as they discuss the growing affection between her and Mr Knight, their brother.

Fanny’s shock at this revelation and Mary’s inner turmoil as her family is vehemently against this union sets the emotional arc for the book’s final act. Horrby’s prose is unhurried, allowing the story to build in emotional resonance as Mary’s decision begin to unsettle her family’s quiet domestic life. Hornby’s wordplay shines in this final act — her Austenesque dialogue repartee between a young woman, caught in an emotional turmoil daring to defy her parent’s order is searing and painful.
Mary’s emotional maturity in her ability to reason through love and loyalty contrasts to her father’s obstinate manipulation tactics. Her decision to elope, spurred on by her siblings and nanny becomes a declaration of her freedom of choice. Hornby builds this moment up with such emotional clarity that the reader can’t help but cheer for Mary when she starts packing her trunk, getting ready to elope!

At its heart, The Elopement is about choice— Fanny choosing to anchor herself in domestic quietude and Mary choosing to marry for love, something her aunt by marriage would be proud of. Hornby could have easily done these two women a disservice by pitting them against each other. Instead, she decides to show the reader to consider how women, in any era, navigate the boundaries imposed on them, and what it costs to cross them. For Mary, it was a choice borne out of love, and for Fanny, it was a choice borne out of love for her children and husband.

In the end, The Elopement by Gill Hornby offers a nuanced perspective into the lives of genteel ladies of the Regency era where some were content within the confines of tradition, and others who stepped quietly and defiantly away from it. And, maybe in that small step, they left their footprint in history.

Gill Hornby’s The Elopement is a smart, engaging slice of historical fiction that’s full of heart, drama, and complex relationships. Yes, the title kind of gives away the ending—but the real joy is in how we get there.

The story kicks off when Mary Dorothea Knatchbull’s father remarries Fanny Knight, who just happens to be Jane Austen’s niece. Suddenly, Mary finds herself part of a new family that’s wildly different from her own. What follows is a mix of awkward family dynamics, unexpected friendships, and—eventually—romance.

The relationship between Mary and her new stepmother Fanny is… cold, to say the least. Hornby doesn’t sugarcoat it, and the use of multiple points of view makes it clear this isn’t just Mary's opinion —everyone sees the friction, including Fanny herself. It adds a lot of depth to their interactions and makes their story all the more compelling.

Fanny’s own story, and that of her sisters, also gives a pretty stark look at how limited women’s options were in the 1820s. Marriage was rarely about love, which makes you root for Mary all the more as she searches for something different.

Fans of Hornby’s previous novel Miss Austen will appreciate the inclusion of Cassandra Austen—it’s a nice little thread connecting the two books (and the new TV adaptation, if you're watching). And while the Regency setting might make you think of Bridgerton, this is a very different vibe. Hornby leans into historical accuracy and real-life details, which gives the book a slower pace but a lot more substance.

There’s plenty of drama—friendship, romance, societal pressure, and even a shocking moment involving Mary’s head being shaved. But at its core, The Elopement is a thoughtful, character-driven story that makes you think just as much as it entertains.

If you like your historical fiction with depth, strong women, and a dash of Austen-adjacent flair, this one's definitely worth a read.

The Elopement by Gill Hornby is a thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking historical tale, steeped in the social nuance and restrained drama of Regency life. Inspired by real events, the story centres on Mary Dorothea Knatchbull, whose quiet and ordered world is disrupted when her father, Sir Edward, remarries. His new wife, Fanny Knight—Jane Austen’s beloved niece—brings with her a lively, sociable family and a new way of life that upends Mary’s isolated existence.

Set in 1820, this book captures the constraints and expectations placed upon women in a patriarchal society, where duty, marriage, and propriety often took precedence over personal happiness. The bond that forms between Mary and Mr Knight, full of hope and quiet affection, is written with warmth and care, making the reader root for them as they navigate the obstacles in their path.

Hornby’s writing is elegant and evocative, mirroring the tone and texture of Austen’s own work. She explores the inner lives of her characters with subtlety, particularly Mary, who emerges as a quietly strong and sympathetic young woman. Themes of social duty, family expectations, and the cost of emotional restraint are threaded delicately throughout.

Though some of the relationships within the blended family remain distant—particularly between Mary and her stepmother—the book effectively portrays the complexities of female experience in the early 19th century. Not every romance ends with fulfilment, and many decisions are dictated not by the heart, but by society.

This is a beautifully crafted read, full of period detail and emotional insight. Fans of Jane Austen and historical fiction will find much to admire in this gentle yet poignant story of love, choice, and quiet rebellion.

3.5/5.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

It’s delightful to read of the extended Austen family in the style of a Jane Austen novel with family ties, strong willed sisters and delicious romance. I found it slow to start but as Mary’s character developed it became engrossing.

Another tribute to the writing of Jane Austen, where the story is loosely based around her surviving family and their marriages. The main character is Mary Dorothea, who lost her mother at a young age, and finds herself as the stepdaughter of Jane's niece Fanny when she marries Mary's Father. There is a clever conceit where we are slowly shown Fanny's lack of self awareness and the misery that this can bring to those around her. It is a humorous tale of Mary's attempts to please everyone while she falls in love with one of Fanny's brothers. A great read for all those lovers of regency fiction.

If you’re looking for a bit of escapism from the modern world, what could be better than immersing yourself into Regency society?

When Fanny is betrothed to Sir Edward, she is destined to take on the responsibility of his mother-less children. With the boys off at school, it’s daughter Mary Dorothea who tests Fanny’s maternal skills. Trying her best to do right by her own family - the Knights - and her new family - the Knatchbulls - Fanny is torn in two when Mary Dorothea comes of age and quickly falls in love with Fanny’s brother Ned.

Betrothals, secret love, spinster aunts, romantic declarations, carriage rides - Gill Hornby has taken so many features of a Jane Austen novel and reworked them into The Elopement. I was interested to read in the epilogue that the story was inspired by real diaries kept by Fanny.

If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, or historical romantic fiction, then you’re sure to enjoy this book.

I've read a good few stories like this over the last while that haven't landed well, so I went into this with trepidation. Happily I found it engaging and it's stayed with me. It wasn't quite what I expected from the description, I thought we'd be veering more heavily into romance territory. Instead, it's an interesting look at combining families following a loss and the dynamics of that for all involved. It was a witty read, really getting into the idiosyncrasies of these characters. Really enjoyed.

Another wonderful book from Gill Hornby! Once again the genre of Jane Austin and her family come to life. I heartily recommend this book.

Gill Hornby has done it again with another beautifully written Austen-adjacent family drama that opens up the world of the extended family A.J. (or, After Jane, if I may coin a phrase!).

This one focuses on the family that Jane Austen's niece Fanny Knight married into: the Knatchbulls. It goes far deeper than a typical Regency romance, with a meaningful thread on the subject of women's freedom of choice (or lack thereof) uniting the narrative. It alternates between giving us the viewpoint of Fanny and that of her stepdaughter Mary Dorothea.

As usual in a Gill Hornby book, the research and the historical voice are impeccable! I've come away with new information and interpretations about some of the individuals in Austen's world and beyond it. Loved the reading experience.