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Jo Baker

Goodreads Author

Born

Lancashire, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.jobakerwriter.com/

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JoBakerWriter

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Member Since

February 2012

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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.

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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)

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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.
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Combine Editions
Jo Baker’s books

Average rating: 3.64 · 75,526 ratings · 11,001 reviews · 18 distinct works • Similar authors

	Longbourn 3.67 avg rating — 64,384 ratings — published 2013 — 84 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 3.45 avg rating — 4,346 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 — 2,092 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 3.67 avg rating — 1,725 ratings — published 2016 — 30 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 3.35 avg rating — 1,043 ratings — published 2008 — 16 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 3.52 avg rating — 870 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 — 872 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 — 179 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
	The Black Dreams: Strange stories from Northern Ireland by Reggie Chamberlain-King (Editor), Ian Sansom, Bernie Mcgill (Goodreads Author) 4.12 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 2021 — 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
	La Saison des ombres liked it 3.00 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

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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 »

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Published on May 23, 2016 02:40

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Jo is Currently Reading

Jo is currently reading

Foucault’s Pendulum

by Umberto Eco

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May 16, 2016 11:55PM

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The Left Hand of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin

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May 16, 2016 01:17AM

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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

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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

45 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

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Polls

April BoTM (Historical Fiction) Nominations!! 1st Poll.

Top 5 books move onto the second poll!!!

The White Queen

by Philippa Gregory

12 votes, 16.9%

The Ship of Brides

by Jojo Moyes

9 votes, 12.7%

The Paying Guests

by Sarah Waters

7 votes, 9.9%

The Sandcastle Girls

by Chris Bohjalian

6 votes, 8.5%

The Lost Wife

by Alyson Richman

6 votes, 8.5%

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

by Jim Fergus

5 votes, 7.0%

Year of Wonders

by Geraldine Brooks

5 votes, 7.0%

Company of Liars

by Karen Maitland

4 votes, 5.6%

Euphoria

by Lily King

4 votes, 5.6%

Longbourn

by Jo Baker

4 votes, 5.6%

To Ride a White Horse

by Pamela Ford

3 votes, 4.2%

The Garden of Letters

by Alyson Richman

3 votes, 4.2%

Peony in Love

by Lisa See

2 votes, 2.8%

And Only to Deceive

by Tasha Alexander

1 vote, 1.4%

71 total votes

1 comment

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