The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 1)

 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 1) by Beth Brower

Fiction

2019

Finished on August 27, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“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.

All my blogging friends have been raving about this series, so I purchased the first volume for my mom last Christmas. She loved it (no surprise there!) and went on to buy the next seven volumes in the collection. She very impatient, as I'm sure many readers are, to read the ninth volume, which is due out before the end of the year. 

I had extremely high hopes for this epistolary work, but it wasn't until the final entries that I felt compelled to move on to the second volume. What should have taken me no more than a day or two to complete took well over a week! I checked in with a couple of friends who echoed my frustration with this book, but assured me that the series does get better. Much better. I hope so, as I have all the remaining volumes stacked and ready to go!

It wasn't until I finished the book that I discovered that the author also wrote The Queen's Gambit. We loved the miniseries and look forward to watching it a second time later this fall.