The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1
"I've arrived in London without incident. There are few triumphs in my recent life, but I count this as one. My existence of the last three years has been nothing but incident."
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian's.
Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
Readers have compared Beth Brower's writing to Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and L. M. Montgomery.
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The book was slow in the beginning and had a hard time relating at first. It got better towards the end. It wasn't my cup of tea but i could see how some like this book but it was to slow to get to the point for me.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 1 features the innermost thoughts and reflections of the daily life of one Emma M. Lion, WL, 27. “The WL for Whereabouts, clearly…I simply wish to keep myself in London, in Lapis Lazuli House, and buy books…A humble but lovely dream…Act for one’s own good or be crushed by the uncertainties of the future, is the motto I live by.”
“This journal does not deserve to have a foul, black mark running through every incriminating thought. I will no longer censor myself!..There is nothing wrong with a view, unless it’s in support of cannibalism; then we might find ourselves in mortal danger.”
And that is exactly the situation in which Emma M. Lion finds herself. “This Season is to be The Season before The Season…One does not approach The Season with laxity, nor should one underestimate the importance of timing…Did you capitalize the word This in your mind?...Capital T and capital S…one ought always to capitalize the essentials.”
Emma is to be “the Foil, the Cousin, the Spy…Capital S…With italics…There’s no sense in dealing in improper nouns without emphasis…The word choice was particular. Could is a challenge. Would is a favour. One might easily guess which” would act as a call to arms!
Emma maintains “an economy of interaction that is spare in its elegance.” Her language “hovers beside [her], a fluid and mischievous thing” weaving spells with words. Her journal is a novella long conversation with the reader, “part soliloquy, and part an exploration of [herself, her] motives, and God’s place in it all.” It is her “unassuming honesty that gave [her] words their strength.” The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 1 is “all the luck of a falling star.”
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