LoveReading Says
November 2014 Book of the Month.
This is a strange series where famous authors have been asked to give a modern version of Austen’s classics so Joanna Trollope did Pride and Prejudice, Val McDermid Northanger Abbey and now Alexander McCall Smith does interfering Emma. She is exactly as she is in the original, giving dinner parties and picnics, attempting matchmaking and generally meddling in other people’s affairs. It is non-taxing, pleasant, easy reading which I believe works so much better in the original.
The third in The Austen project, a reworking of Emma written by Alexander McCall Smith, is published in November 2014. The first two in this project are already published and include Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope and Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid. A reworking of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld is scheduled for 2015.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About Emma
Prepare to meet a young woman who thinks she knows everything Fresh from university, Emma Woodhouse arrives home in Norfolk ready to embark on adult life with a splash. Not only has her sister, Isabella, been whisked away on a motorbike to London, but her astute governess, Miss Taylor is at a loose end watching as Mr. Woodhouse worries about his girls.
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Emma Synopsis
Prepare to meet a young woman who thinks she knows everything Fresh from university, Emma Woodhouse arrives home in Norfolk ready to embark on adult life with a splash. Not only has her sister, Isabella, been whisked away on a motorbike to London, but her astute governess, Miss Taylor is at a loose end watching as Mr. Woodhouse worries about his girls.
Someone is needed to rule the roost and young Emma is more than happy to oblige. At the helm of her own dinner parties, and often found either rearranging the furniture at the family home of Hartfield, or instructing her new protegee, Harriet Smith, Emma is in charge. You don't have to be in London to go to parties, find amusement or make trouble.
Not if you're Emma, the very big fish in the rather small pond. But for someone who knows everything, Emma doesn't know her own heart. And there is only one person who can play with Emma's indestructible confidence, her friend and inscrutable neighbour George Knightly - this time has Emma finally met her match?
Ever alive to the social comedy of village life, beloved author Alexander McCall Smith's Emma is the busybody we all know and love, and a true modern delight.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780007553853 |
| Publication date: |
6th November 2014 |
| Author: |
Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher: |
The Borough Press an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Primary Genre |
Family Drama
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Alexander McCall Smith Press Reviews
Praise for Alexander McCall Smith:
'Witty, elegant, gentle, compassionate and exotic.'
-GUARDIAN
'The kind of simplicity one finds in the best children's stories and a fluency which reflects his practice of writing 4,000 words a day in a stint of four hours... A talent for traditional story telling.'
-GUARDIAN
About Alexander McCall Smith
Sir Alexander McCall Smith is the author of over one hundred books on a wide array of subjects, including the award-winning The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. He is also the author of the Isabel Dalhousie novels and the world’s longest-running serial novel, 44 Scotland Street. His books have been translated into forty-six languages. Alexander McCall Smith is Professor Emeritus of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and holds honorary doctorates from thirteen universities. He was knighted by the King in 2024
Author Photo credit: Copyright Kirsty Anderson
Click here to read an exclusive interview with Alexander McCall Smith by Mary Hogarth.
A Lovereading guide to the works of Alexander McCall Smith...
The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency was first published in 1998 and then, suddenly, it took off in America to the extent that no less than11 reprints were required in 2003.
Since then, so prolific has been his output, and so has his popularity soared, that there was a time when the sheer multitude of McCall Smith's books led to confusion as to which book fitted into each of the various series under which he writes. One has hardly been able to keep up with the sheer abundance of books published - we reckon at least thirty in less than a decade.
Now, thankfully, things have settled down and the legions of McCall Smiths avid fans can compartmentalise his new books into the four main series under which they sit - The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency Series, The Isabel Dalhousie Novels, The 44 Scotland Street Series and The Corduroy Mansions Series with a few more on top!
There are constant features across the whole panoply of McCall Smith's output. Wry and witty observations about the day-to-day lives of normal people. An innocence and delight in the human condition. And, always, a twinkle on the eye shared by writer and reader. He is a happy writer and that makes for happy readers.
He is best known for the following 4 series of novels (they are shown below in the order they were published) :-
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe, Morality for Beautiful Girls, The Kalahari Typing School for Men, The Full Cupboard of Life, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Blue Shoes and Happiness, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, The Miracle at Speedy Motors, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, The Double Comfort Safari Club, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine, Precious and Grace.
Isabel Dalhousie series: The Sunday Philosophy Club,Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, The Right Attitude to Rain, The Careful Use of Compliments, The Comfort of Saturdays, The Lost Art of Gratitude, The Charming Quirks of Others, The Forgotten Affairs of Youth, The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds, The Novel Habits of Happiness.
44 Scotland Street series: 44 Scotland Street, Espresso Tales, Love Over Scotland, The World According to Bertie, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, The Importance of Being Seven, Bertie Plays the Blues, Sunshine on Scotland Street, Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers, The Revolving Door of Life, The Bertie Project, A Time of Love and Tartan.
Corduroy Mansions Series: Corduroy Mansions, The Dog Who Came in from the Cold, A Conspiracy of Friends.
Author Photo © Graham Clark
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