Sarah is a protagonist and major point-of-view character. She is a young woman who works as a maid at Longbourn and is around the same age as the Bennet daughters, who serve as her contrast and foil. Sarah was born into the laboring class; her father was a weaver, and her family lived in a small cottage. After her parents and baby brother died of typhus, the orphaned Sarah was sent to the workhouse. Mrs. Hill brought her to Longbourn to become a maid. Sarah is grateful to Mrs. Hill for giving her shelter, food, and paid work, but she grows sad when she thinks about her lost family.

In the beginning, Sarah takes no pleasure and feels no reward in her work. It is physically demanding and damaging, signaled by her blisters. She feels like a “a wrung-out dishrag of a thing” (23) in comparison to the lovely Bennet girls, who have soft, smooth skin, rounded bodies, and pretty clothing—the opposite of Sarah, who wears worn, ill-fitting dresses. She keeps her few belongings in a locked box beneath the bed she shares with Polly.

Sarah’s wish for more from her life manifests in her dreams of going far away and seeing new places, like London or the sea.