2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth - and, fittingly, we are welcoming back Gill Hornby, to celebrate _The Elopement_, the sequel to her brilliant novels _Miss Austen_ and _Godmersham Park_.
Gill is the author of the novels _The Hive_ and _All Together Now_, as well as _The Story of Jane Austen_, a biography of Austen for young readers. Both her previous Austen novels were _Sunday Times _bestsellers, and _Miss Austen_ has just launched as a four-part BBC adaptation starring Keeley Hawes as Cassandra Austen.
_1820, and the marriage between wealthy widower Sir Edward Knatchbull and Jane Austen's handsome, dutiful niece Fanny Knight is widely praised as being the most excellent match in the county._
_As Sir Edward's wife, Fanny is expected to apply herself to the raising of his five children with the same dedication she has shown towards her siblings at Godmersham Park. In particular, she pays care to young Mary Knatchbull - the only girl of the family, and the apple of her strict father's eye._
_Poor Mary has hitherto been raised under a cloud of quiet misery. But as the Knight and Knatchbull families merge, she discovers something like fun. The Knight girls are so sweet and the boys .... so very handsome and charming and madly athletic - especially Ned, the eldest and therefore the heir to Godmersham Park._
_As Mary approaches her seventeenth birthday, a bond forms between her and Ned Knight, an understanding that leads, on the last day of the year 1825, to Ned declaring his hand. Sir Edward's outrage is immediate; his refusal unyielding. Ned Knight is his own wife's brother! The situation is simply unseemly. And besides, he dislikes the fellow. The marriage will never take place._
_There appears to be only one solution for Ned and Mary - but can it really involve elopement?_
On _Godmersham Park:_
'So envious of anyone yet to read this. A triumph!' Nigella Lawson
'A masterly piece of storytelling.' Helena Kelly
'The great writer is brought to life in this clever, well-researched piece of fiction' The Times
'Godmersham Park has some of the same understated wit and sharp observation as Austen's novels' Sunday Times