The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1

By Beth Brower

Book Overview

"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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0998063614
• ISBN13: 9780998063614
• Release Date: November 2019
• Publisher: Rhysdon Press
• Length: 126 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

4 stars

THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION, Volume 1 by Beth Bower The year is 1883 and Miss Emma Lion has arrived in London to stay in the home she is supposed to inherit on her 21st birthday. Unfortunately her cousin Archibald, the supposed “caretaker”/estate executor lives there as well. Emma discovers he has spent nearly all her fortune on frivolous things, and now has to figure out how to manage. What follows is a daily account of Emma’s life living at Lapis Lazuli house. She writes about her thoughts and musings, and gives a play by play of the situations she finds herself in as well as the various quirky people (and a ghost?) she encounters. Volume one is quite short (100 pages). It’s mostly an introduction to the characters and set up for the rest of the series, but I was immediately hooked by Miss Lion’s wit. She’s snarky, clever and endearing. Her views are very modern, but I don’t mind as it somehow works for this story, If you love reading (fictional) people’s diaries, you might enjoy this. It’s a little bit of everything; historical fiction, humor with a touch of magical realism and romance, It starts off a bit slow, but soon you’ll be invested in the characters’ lives. Volume one ends abruptly, so I immediately started volume two. Looking forward to reading all eight volumes! The audiobook narration is truly delightful! The voice acting for Cousin Archibald, Arabella and Aunt Eugenia are especially fun. Highly recommend! Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

I'm glad I gave it a chance!

4.5 star ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.✨️ Wow! What can I say? I was genuinely not liking it at first and almost didn't want to continue but I can say as of finishing this book that I in fact will get volume 2 as soon as possible to read! I am pretty surprised that I went from 30 pages in not really enjoying it to the end of the book wishing I had more to read! I absolutely do NOT like Cousin Archibald in the slightest! And Aunt Eugenia? please! The least the aunt can do is offer her a nice wardrobe for everything she is pushing her to do before she'll even consider helping her find a suitable husband! And how my heart ached for her and her loss of Maxwell 😭 I'd definitely recommend this book!

Clever!

The author is incredibly clever! This first book sets up all sorts of plot lines in a very engaging way! I thoroughly enjoyed it!