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-Synopsis-

“It all began very innocently. Truly.”

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, which comprise a series of volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

-Review-

As the fourth installment in the beloved Emma M. Lion series, this is probably my new favorite of the bunch.

The humor in this one, while still very much active, was dialed back a bit. I appreciated this because it allowed for the more serious tones to take center stage at times. An emotional event that has been on the horizon in the previous three books, finally reared its head, leading to a quite dramatic series of events. I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing those moments with Emma as I feel more connected with her emotionally than before.

Emma is still very much the owner of Lapis Lazuli house (major and minor). She is still trying to find her more permanent place in society while dealing with the whacky circumstances she finds herself in.

Pierce is beginning to thrive in his own new role of taking portraits, Islington (The Duke of) and Young Hawkes are becoming more staple characters in this series. The interactions between these young men by itself, leads to quite a bit of hilarity and reflection in the book.

I can feel a certain change coming happening not just with Emma but those around her. It truly feels like a sort of Victorian coming-of-age interwoven story, except with adults instead of adolescents, if that makes sense.

Once again, I was blown away by Beth Brower’s ability to write both humor and emotionally heavy scenes and characters. I am chomping at the bit to get to the fifth one which should not be too long in the making.

-About the Author-

Like many of my siblings, I would sneak out of bed, slip into the hallway, and pull my favorite books from the book closet. I read my way through the bottom shelf, then the next shelf up, and the shelf above that, until I could climb to the very top shelf, stacked two layers deep and two layers high, and read the titles of the classics. My desire to create stories grew as I was learning to read them.

Subsequently, I spent my time scribbling in notebooks rather than listening to math lectures at school.

I graduated with a degree in literary studies, and have spent several years working on the novels that keep pounding on the doors of my mind, as none of my characters are very patient to wait their turn. I currently live in Salt Lake City with my wonderful chemist husband, and books in every room of the house.