The Elopement
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  • Published: 5 June 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804942819
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 480

The Elopement

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
3 Jun 2025
EBook
5 Jun 2025
Audiobook
5 Jun 2025
Hardback
5 Jul 2025
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Gill Hornby plunges us into the lives of the Austen family during the early 19th Century, where an unconventional marriage divides a family and turmoil ensues.

The brand new novel from the bestselling author of Miss Austen and Godmersham Park plunges us into the lives of the Austen family during the early 19th Century, where an unconventional marriage divides a family and turmoil ensues.


'Gill Hornby’s trilogy about Jane’s family has all Austen’s wit and unnerving powers of observation with an extra twenty-first century zap, and The Elopement is the best yet' FERDINAND MOUNT

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‘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?

____________

Readers are loving The Elopement!

'It is so well-written with vivid period detail that I felt immersed in the Austen world and did not want it to end.'

'I was hooked from the first page.'

'Sharply observed, well researched and wonderfully told'

'I loved every minute of this novel'

'A gem'
  • Published: 5 June 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804942819
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 480
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About the author

Gill Hornby

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.

portrait photo of Gill Hornby

Also by Gill Hornby

Godmersham Park
Miss Austen
See all

Praise for The Elopement

Turmoil ensues in this novel laced with scandal, elopement, gossip and family intrigue.

The Bookseller

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

A captivating return to the world of the Austens

Zoe West, Woman's Weekly

Joyous . . . captured with apt perspicacity and keen wit

Mail on Sunday

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

The Times

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

Daily Mail

Has all the wit and wisdom of a Jane Austen novel

Red

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

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

Nigella Lawson

A magical and terrifically interesting read

Persephone Books Newsletter

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

The Daily Express

A magical and terrifically interesting read

Persephone Books Newsletter
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