The Elopement

Three women, two families, one forbidden marriage. Get ready to fall in love with the brand-new regency romance from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Godmersham Park and Miss Austen, now a major BBC TV series.


‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’

1820. Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is living under the sole charge of her widowed father, Sir Edward – a man of strict principles and high Christian values.

But when her father marries Miss Fanny Knight of Godmersham Park, Mary’s life is suddenly changed.
Her new stepmother comes from a large, happy and sociable family and Fanny’s sisters become Mary’s first friends. Her aunt, Miss Cassandra Austen of Chawton, is especially kind. Her brothers are not only amusing, but handsome and charming.

And as Mary Dorothea starts to bloom into a beautiful young woman, she forms an especial bond with one Mr Knight in particular.

Soon, they are deeply in love and determined to marry. They expect no opposition. After all, each is from a good family and has known the other for some years.

It promises to be the most perfect match. Who would want to stand in their way?

Review

Hornby’s Austen books are funny, bittersweet family sagas, impeccably researched and lavishly imagined ― The Times

Has all the wit and wisdom of a Jane Austen novel ― Red

Combines meticulous period research with a fine feeling for the characters' inner lives, hopes and fears ― Daily Mail

Joyous . . . captured with apt perspicacity and keen wit ― Mail on Sunday

Combines meticulous research with a fabulously heartfelt feeling for her characters . . . Filled with Austen-esque ironies and humour. ― The Daily Express

I’m so fond of Gill’s books for their vividness at explaining the historical period. She also truly cares about her characters and their welfare ― Aine Toner, Belfast Telegraph

Has all Austen’s wit and unnerving powers of observation with an extra twenty-first century zap ― Ferdinand Mount

Few writers are as perspicacious or half as delightful as Hornby ― Karen Joy Fowler

Gripping and moving and also so sharp and funny. I loved it! ― Sabine Durrant

Tremendous . . . Darker than Miss Austen but rendered with her characteristic lightness of touch and neat wit ― Nigella Lawson

About the Author

Gill Hornby 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. She lives in Kintbury, Berkshire, with her husband and their four children.