2 ratings | 1 review | avg rating:4.00

Jo Baker’s Followers (984)

Jo’s Bookshelves

to-read (2)
currently-reading (2)
read (2)

Jo’s Friends (95)

Britta Böhler

5,655 books | 1,468 friends

Ian Chapman

296 books | 217 friends

Lesley Allen

107 books | 56 friends

Kirsty

2,863 books | 361 friends

Omar Dahi

918 books | 231 friends

Andrea

2,433 books | 4,745 friends

J.S. Collyer

578 books | 190 friends

Jaimie Batchan

620 books | 34 friends

More friends…

Jo Baker

Goodreads Author

Born

Lancashire, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.jobakerwriter.com/

Twitter

JoBakerWriter

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Member Since

February 2012

edit data

Jo Baker is the author of six novels, most recently Longbourn and A Country Road, A Tree. She has also written for BBC Radio 4, and her short stories have been included in a number of anthologies. She lives in Lancaster, England, with her husband, the playwright and screenwriter Daragh Carville, and their two children.

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jo Baker questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

HI, Having read Longbourn, I am curious as to whether you relate more to the Jane Austen works, or to those that relate more to social issues? Longbourn shows the life below the stairs. Is this type of below the stairs issue or social mores more important to you?

Jo Baker Hi Carrie,

it was the interaction of the two.

I love Austen's work - I am a massive, daydreaming fan of her stuff - I love the wish-fulfilment and the…moreHi Carrie,

it was the interaction of the two.

I love Austen's work - I am a massive, daydreaming fan of her stuff - I love the wish-fulfilment and the wit and the brilliantly structured, totally satisfying stories. But coming from working class roots, I struggle see myself in her characters' shoes. Writing Longbourn was, more than anything else, an attempt to 'locate' myself within Austen's world in a way that felt true to me. So the class issue was important, but the book would never have been written if I hadn't been a total nerd for Austen's work. (less)

flag

18 likes · like
Comment

Hi Jo! How much planning and preparation goes into your novels before you start writing?

Jo Baker it does vary - i usually have an image or an idea hanging around for years before something else comes along and makes it start to fizz. if I didn't h…moreit does vary - i usually have an image or an idea hanging around for years before something else comes along and makes it start to fizz. if I didn't have the fizz, the work wouldn't happen at all. The plans get made as I go along - I think that's really important actually - to be flexible with your plans and realise that there is the platonic ideal of the book you were going to write, and then there is the book you are actually writing or have written. And the research (as I've mentioned below) is a shifting thing too - a layering of general and then very specific work, when I've discovered, through the process of writing, what I need to know.
(less)

flag

10 likes · like
Comment

See all 33 answers from Jo Baker…

Combine Editions
Jo Baker’s books

Average rating: 3.64 · 73,125 ratings · 10,703 reviews · 19 distinct works • Similar authors

	Longbourn 3.67 avg rating — 62,377 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Body Lies 3.46 avg rating — 4,239 ratings — published 2019 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Midnight News 3.66 avg rating — 1,894 ratings — published 2023 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Country Road, A Tree 3.66 avg rating — 1,673 ratings — published 2016 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Telling 3.37 avg rating — 1,024 ratings — published 2008 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Undertow 3.53 avg rating — 862 ratings — published 2011 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mermaid's Child 2.95 avg rating — 867 ratings — published 2004 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Offcomer 2.72 avg rating — 174 ratings — published 2002 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Country Road A Tree: Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Memorial Prize for Historical Fiction really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Telling it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jo Baker…

3 posts
Jo Baker's Blog

occupational hazards

If I knew how to insert a photo into a blog post, I'd take a snap of my hand in its ugly 'flesh' coloured splint (nobody's flesh is really that colour). I have an RSI flare up. Sometimes it's okay, sometimes it's so sore it makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. Too much writing perched in awkward places and never enough rest.

It's not something that gets mentioned much when we talk about writi Read more of this blog post »

2 likes · Like • 1 comment • flag

Published on May 23, 2016 02:40

View all 3 posts »

Jo is Currently Reading

Jo is currently reading

Foucault’s Pendulum

by Umberto Eco

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 16, 2016 11:55PM

Jo is currently reading

The Left Hand of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 16, 2016 01:17AM

rss
Jo’s Recent Updates

Jo has read Hard Times by Charles Dickens	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 06, 2025 12:38AM · like

More of Jo's books…

Quotes by Jo Baker (?)

“Things could change so entirely, in a heartbeat; the world could be made entirely anew, because someone was kind.”
― Jo Baker, Longbourn

tags: kindness

68 likes

“Life was, Mrs. Hill had come to understand, a trial by endurance, which everybody, eventually, failed.”
― Jo Baker, Longbourn

tags: life

43 likes

“...too much time spent with books had not fitted her to be easy with herself, and other people.”
― Jo Baker, Longbourn

tags: books, reading

22 likes

See all Jo Baker's quotes »

Polls

February BoTM Nominations ~ A Retelling ~ Final Poll

Longbourn

by Jo Baker

14 votes, 30.4%

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

11 votes, 23.9%

Hag-Seed

by Margaret Atwood

10 votes, 21.7%

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel

by Louise Murphy

6 votes, 13.0%

Girls Made of Snow and Glass

by Melissa Bashardoust

5 votes, 10.9%

46 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Paranormal Romanc...: February 2010 Reading Challenge	1132	1356	Apr 01, 2010 11:15AM
Challenge: 50 Books: Emma's 50 books 2011	35	77	Nov 23, 2011 02:08PM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2012: Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC	2637	935	Aug 31, 2012 09:02PM
Crazy Challenge C...: Beach Reads	170	125	Sep 19, 2012 08:34AM
Crazy Challenge C...: Summer Scavenger Hunt - 2012	175	143	Sep 22, 2012 08:57PM

More…

Jo’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.