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.

I found this book quite hard to get into and the characters were quite unlikeable. Half way through and it became much more interesting and faster paced. I love to read Austen but this book wasn't of the same ilk. Interesting though that it was based on the memoirs of one of the main character, Fanny.

The Elopement is a very well-researched story based on the dairies of Fanny Knight, Jane Austen's niece. There are a lot of characters so 'A Note About Names' and 'The Families' at the beginning of the book were very useful. The Author's Note at the end gives further historical background. I loved this book. It is so well-written with vivid period detail that I felt immersed in the Austen world and did not want it to end. It inspired me to read Gill Hornby's other novels about the Austen family.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a tiny bit boring. There, I said it.
Once you wade through the first half, you are rewarded with a good story in the second. I could not even decide who the main character was up until some 60% of the book. Events were centred around Fanny as much as around Mary, and neither of them seemed like a person capable of passionate feelings.
Jane Austen fans will most probably enjoy this spin off but they should not expect the same wit and character development.

As a long-standing Jane-ite I loved every minute of this novel, the sequel to ‘Miss Austen’, which I also much enjoyed. Written in the style of Jane Austen, Gill Hornby, with wit and grace, immerses us in the lives and sensibilities of her characters and the period atmosphere. Even though I studied the original novels, I knew little about Jane’s extended family, so it was with delight that I learnt so much about their (albeit often imagined) lives. I was hooked from the first page and was sorry when the journey was over.

I have read Miss Austen by the same author and so was interested to read this novel. I knew very little about the Austen family so it was fascinating to read more about the family’s fortunes. The lack of a voice as a woman was particularly well described and seems unbelievable to a modern reader.

The Knight and Knatchbull families are drawn together after the marriage of Fanny - the eldest daughter - to Sir Edward - a widower. Mary - his eldest daughter - finds herself with a step-mother and a new family. She finds herself with friends and allies and eventually finds love with Ned Knight.

However the acceptance they expected did not materialise and costly decisions have to be made which have huge repercussions across both families.

An interesting read. Sad but hopeful as well.

I enjoyed this book very much.

There is a massive thing about Jane Austen at the moment, everyone seems to be talking her and her life and this story is telling the story of her niece who has married a wealthywidow with five children.

Fanny is expected to step up, as it were, and she forms a bond with Mary, the only girl of the brood.

This is a good novel., I just adore Historical fiction and this book gave an insight of how women were expected to behave and how men were definitely 'in charge' ..

It seems well researched and is fabulously told.

DNF @ 50%. I am SO disappointed.

Gill Hornby, step AWAY from the Italics key! It is driving me insane! It turns every line of dialogue into a condescending, sneering jibe that your character development does not warrant in the slightest, there has to be a better way.

'The Elopement' was one of my most anticipated books of 2025, having read both 'Miss Austen' and 'Godmersham Park' over the last few months. And there were things about those novels that irked me, but the plotting and writing was strong enough to keep me going through to the end. The same cannot be said for the third installment in the series. You know you're in trouble when the plot described in the synopsis hasn't even started by the mid-way point. Yes. The mid-way point. 200 pages of SET UP. 200 pages of ignoring any deep emotional thoughts, characters so clumsily re-drawn from real life that they blend into one big blob (with the exception of a few) and action so banal, so repetitive that I had to check the file hadn't corrupted and I was missing something. It's a poorly paced book that doesn't live up to the stakes promised on the dust jacket. It feels like the author did so much research and immersed herself so much that she got completely lost within it - and not in a good way.

The biggest crime that this novel has going for it is it's just dull. I can handle vignettes of everyday life, I've read Hornby's other historical books, but reading this felt like wading through golden syrup. The same characters never changed, they had the same thoughts that were never explored or explained. Conflict is brought up, glanced at, and then dealt with off-page, leaving us to hear the droning inner monologues of the lead female characters (all of which were far too Jesus-y for my tastes). The author was just rambling along, never quite knowing when to start the story, jumping forward in time to give us next to nothing in terms of plot or character development. Nothing happened in the first half, so I have no desire to continue into the 2nd half. That's writing 101.

Let me start by saying I wish the afterward was instead the foreword, as I’d have thought of the book differently as I read it. The book is written in sections with each section being from a different person’s perspective, without any duplication of events. I found that I soon grew to dislike the 1st narrator, liked the 2nd, but didn’t really get into the 3rd. The book is quite sad really, and I felt as though I wish I’d stopped part way through, though when you read it was all true and based on actual diary entries of one of the narrators, you think of the story slightly differently, which made me wish I knew that from the start. An interesting book, but it left me so sad that I wouldn’t want to read it again

Another well researched and highly informative book from Hornby. Very enjoyable, educational but never condescending, it is a gem.

Again the Austen Knight family and their relationships are brought to life. With the demise of Aunt Jane, this story focuses on Fanny, Jane’s favourite niece, and her, for the times, late marriage to the self important Sir Edward Knatchbull, with all the trials and pitfalls of becoming a stepmother whilst longing for babies of her own. Thrown into the mix are Fanny’s siblings and the much loved Aunt Cassandra.

If you enjoyed the previous books then this is a must. Written very much in the ‘Austen’ style, with keen observations and a dry wit.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone.

I know very little about Jane Austen and her family so it was it was interesting to get more insight into the background, I always find how difficult it was for women in that era as they had little control over their lives and how much their future balanced on a whim or dislike of the male members of the family, . A well written and researched book and very enjoyable to read.

This is the first novel by this author that I have read. Apparently she has written several books around the theme of Jane Austen and her family. This one was very enjoyable, and worthy of a Jane Austen story. It is closely based on true events and characters in Jane Austen's family, this time after her death., and tells the story of Fanny Knight and her step daughter Mary Knatchbull, who marries Fanny,s brother, Ned. For me, it was a little too long and slightly predictable but well-written and fun to read.

‘The Elopement’ is Gill Hornby’s latest exploration of the lives of Jane Austen’s relatives, and very good it is too. Based on the diaries of Fanny Knatchbull (nee Knight), Hornby explores the benefits and pitfalls of the nineteenth century blended family when Fanny takes on six stepchildren, promising her volatile husband that she will be their new mama. Fanny’s presence is not as welcome as she might hope and, above all, the eldest and only girl, Mary Dorothea and she are never at ease with each other.

Happily, for Mary, Fanny’s younger siblings adore her and she is soon the best of friends with Cassy whilst also enjoying sociable times with Fanny’s brothers. As the title suggests, at some point there will be scandal and intrigue, out of which will develop a family schism.

Hornby tells this story using a light touch of Jane Austen’s style – just enough for the reader to be well and truly transported back to Regency England without the novel becoming a horrible parody or a clumsy pastiche. As she explains in her Author’s Note, a good deal has been imagined as Fanny’s diary cannot capture all of her characters’ thoughts and feelings. Nevertheless, the character portrayals are most convincing. It’s not difficult to believe in both the loneliness and the comradeship that these people must have felt, their dedication to duty, their desire for children and fear of childbirth, and the overwhelming importance of family.

Readers who have enjoyed Hornby’s other Austen Knight novels will love this one too. Sharply observed, well researched and wonderfully told.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Century for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.