Thanks to Fiona Stager for pressing into my hands this whimsical, witty, sardonic, clever and entirely amusing comedy of manners set in 1883, THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION (Vol 1 & 2) by Beth Brower and published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2026. For several days I lost myself in this enchanting period, documented by Emma in a series of daily journal entries.
Emma is in some ways a classic 1880’s figure: the tragic loss of her parents left her at a young age to take up companionship for an older relative, for which she was to be paid a Tidy Sum, until she reached her adulthood and then claim the beautiful ancestral manor, Lapis Lazuli House, in the small community of St Crispian’s. In the meantime, however, her dastardly and eccentric cousin Archibald has taken possession of the house and rather overextended his spending and gambling debts. Emma’s plans for a quiet life of bookish study (and a recovery from her arduous days at Fortitude, A Preparatory Boarding School For Girls) are stymied when she discovers her cousin’s machinations. She is eventually delivered to stay in the garret of the house. There are mice. An imperious butler. A local Roman ghost who appears around the town. Young Hawkes, the vicar, who is the very opposite of who he seems. Emma is expected by her formidable Aunt Eugenia to play companion and chaperone to the beautiful Arabella as The Season approaches and potential husbands are being considered.
And all of this to the backdrop of The Great Burning of 1882, The Scar (inflicted by Emma on Archibald and never forgiven), and the arrival of a rather unusual tenant who takes up residence in the other half of the garret, to assist Emma resolve her poor pecuniary situation.
These two slim volumes together make up the one book, and I believe there are more to follow. Emma is clever, intelligent, scheming, entrepreneurial, adventurous, witty, charming, and not above petty revenge. An astute judge of character, she moves through her world with the utmost grace, determined to make the best of her unfortunate circumstances, even if it means making some deals with the devils around her.
In the background is the death of a former paramour, only hinted at in these volumes but I suspect expanded upon further in latter volumes.
This book is an absolute delight, a heartwarming and pleasant comfort read that denotes with great detail and light the social mores and expectations of the period, with the intrepid Emma at the centre of the tale. It’s laugh out loud funny, sweet, curious, and always with a touch of mystery just beyond the pages. I can’t wait to read of Emma’s further adventures.