One of the little pleasures of writing a Pride and Prejudice variation is finding a historical detail that fits neatly into your story. Sometimes, it even comes with a buil
t-in play on words.
Meet Langbourn and Longbourn. Similar names, different places—and, in A Christmas Understanding, they are assigned to two rather different gentlemen.
Longbourn is familiar territory. It’s the Bennets’ home in Hertfordshire, with five daughters, an anxious mother, and a father who would generally prefer to be left in his library. It is also the name of their village, which Austen places just a mile from Meryton. Very convenient for visiting relations, buying ribbons, and keeping track of the officers who’ve come with the militia.
Langbourn, sometimes also spelled Langbourne, is a real ward, or administrative district, in the City of London. It includes parts of Lombard Street and Fenchurch Street, along with a small portion of Gracechurch Street. And yes, that last street name should ring a bell, because Austen puts the estimable Gardiners there.
Langbourn was a prosperous place, with a long history of merchants, bankers, goldsmiths, and insurers doing business there. Eighteenth-century descriptions mention quite wealthy merchants and elegant entertainments. There was a lot of money in this part of London, even if it was being earned in ways that people like Louisa Hurst and Caroline Bingley did not approve.
Of course, Caroline’s own fortune came from trade, though I imagine that this was a detail she would have found considerably less interesting than the location of Mr. Gardiner’s warehouses. (Warehouses were not just places to store boxes, either—they were the precursor to the department store. So when Mr. Gardiner is said to have warehouses, plural, we can perhaps think of him as a young Mr. Fortnum or Mr. Mason, or, for the Yanks like me, Mr. Macy or Mr. Bloomingdale).
In A Christmas Understanding, I placed the Gardiners’ house on the portion of Gracechurch Street that falls within Langbourn, because it offers Elizabeth an opportunity to consider the men in her life side by side.
Elizabeth loves her father, but she wonders why the world elevates him while denigrating her uncle.
Elizabeth had often compared the names in her mind. Langbourn. Longbourn.The world insisted that there was a great difference in rank between a man like her father who owned land in Hertfordshire and a man like her uncle who owned warehouses in London. To Elizabeth they had never differed by more than a single letter. Her uncle had a better income than her father, set a better table, and had his children taught far more carefully. But Papa had inherited an estate, and so Papa was a gentleman. (A Christmas Understanding, Melanie Rachel)
That question runs through A Christmas Understanding, though there is plenty of holly, mulled wine, and mistletoe to keep everyone occupied along the way. Several characters have cause to reconsider what they admire, whose opinion they trust, and whether a fine address or an inherited fortune tells them very much about the person who possesses it.
If you would like to spend Christmas in Langbourn, the Gardiners have room for you too!
Caroline Bingley has already arrived—rather abruptly, via a patch of ice—and her unexpected stay brings Darcy into a household he had dismissed without ever crossing its threshold. Darcy has helped to separate Bingley from Jane for his friend’s own good. But Bingley knows it now, and Darcy’s penance is to provide his carriage and ride along to witness the developing courtship he tried to prevent. In Gracechurch Street, Langbourn, he finds noisy children, excellent company, and an Elizabeth Bennet who has become dangerously difficult to resist.
A Christmas Understanding is a sweet, closed-door holiday romance with lively banter, changing hearts, and very purposeful use of mistletoe. It will be available on October 22nd and is on preorder now!
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