Description

Jane Austen gave life to the fictional Watson family in 1803, but sadly abandoned them five chapters in. Acclaimed author Joan Aiken completes their story in her ingenious novel, Emma Watson.

Emma Watson has been brought up by her aunt in a wealthy and refined household, an educated lifestyle far removed from her widowed father and five siblings. So when her aunt enters into an imprudent second marriage, nineteen-year-old Emma is sent back home and must join her sisters in their pursuit of a husband . . .

Aiken, author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, takes on the fate of Austen’s characters with confidence and skill, flawlessly entwining themes of loss and love together in this stunning regency pastiche.

‘Joan Aiken’s invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come’ – Philip Pullman

Publisher Review

Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come -- Philip Pullman Aiken displays a lively turn of invention, not to mention assiduous research into her period . . . undoubtedly entertaining, a pretty, lively, amusing little pastiche -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph * Her sense of time and place is impeccable. Others may try but nobody comes close to Aiken in writing Jane Austen sequels * Publishers Weekly * Aiken forces us to see what Austen made her own heroines see: themselves from another perspective -- Lizzie Skurnick * New York Times Book Review * Shows a confident hand in reworking the various plots and philosophies for which Jane Austen is so admired -- Sarah Francis * Times Literary Supplement *