Before I start this review, I would like to make it known I have never read the original Jane Austen novel Emma
Much of Emma and Knightley is graceful and lovely. The word choices and sentence structures are very poetic. Some of the passages on the other hand are fairly stuffy and take a bit of concentration to slog through. Part of this I must blame on my lack of character knowledge. It might be helpful to some readers to start this novel only after reading Emma or learning more about the characters through cliff notes.
The novel starts approximately one year from Emma and George Knightley’s marriage. They are returned from their honeymoon by the sea and are resettling at Hartfield. Knightley is everything magnanimous to Mr. Woodhouse, Emma’s father, even though Emma knows he would wish them both to be at his home, Donwell Abbey.
Sad news reaches them and the surrounding village town about Jane Churchill’s death in childbirth. Frank Churchill is rumored to be a very bad husband, having spent his time in London well away from his poor wife. When his return to Surrey and Highbury is discovered by Emma, Frank manages to convince her to keep her silence.
Meanwhile there’s trouble in paradise. John Knightley, George’s brother is in bad financial straights. Emma and Knightley are under severe strain to keep this unhappy news both from Mr. Woodhouse and Emma’s sister Isabella who is in confinement.
If that were not enough to worry about, Emma begins to notice more and more how Knightley takes himself off to Robert Martin’s home. At first she resents Robert, but as her insecurities mount she believes Harriet to have supplanted Knightley’s affections for her. A regular comedy of manners is taking place!
There is one character whose back story and later actions seem to be a bit over the top. I am fairly certain this character, Mrs. Philomena Tidmarsh, is new and not found within the original Emma. While I liked the friendship between Philomena and Emma, the rest took away some of my enjoyment for the story.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
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