Book info

• Title Emma
• Author Alexander McCall Smith
• Year 2014
• Genre Romance

Fresh from university, Emma Woodhouse triumphantly arrives home in Norfolk ready to embark on adult life with a splash. Not only has her sister, Isabella, been whisked away on a motorcycle up to London, but her astute governess, Miss Taylor is at a loose end, abandoned in the giant family pile, Hartfield, alongside Emma’s anxiety-ridden father. Someone is needed to rule the roost and young Emma is more than happy to oblige. And there is plenty to delight her in the buzzing little village of Highbury. At the helm of her own dinner parties and instructing her new little protégée, Harriet Smith, Emma reigns forth. But there is only one person who can play with Emma’s indestructible confidence, her old friend and inscrutable neighbour George Knightley – this time has Emma finally met her match?

Thoughts

A modern retelling of the classic Jane Austen book Emma, this tale is a well known one. Emma Woodhouse likes to meddle in other people’s relationships, but it doesn’t always work out how she might have hoped. I liked seeing these characters brought into the modern age, but a lot of the story felt shoe-horned in. They didn’t quite ring true as characters - I mean, sure there are posher people living in stately homes these days, but if you’re trying to update a story, it might do better to be completely different rather than on the cusp of the modern age.

However, I did like the few new twists added. Frank Churchill’s reason for not telling Emma the truth, and Mr Woodhouse not being left sad at the end. Good but not quite as fun as I’d expected. I think you’d be better off just reading the original again.

Rating: 2 / 5