Emma Brown is a modern-day continuation of a novel left unfinished by Charlotte Bronte at the time of her death. It's a quick read, and one which definitely encompasses all the kinds of twists and turns of astonishing coincidence that marks a truly Gothic, Brontean novel. However, the tone is much too modern, with turns of thought and phrase that struck me as anachronistic; for Boylan to have updated the novel in that respect made me wish that she had equally made the plot more suited to modern sensibilities--the disconnect made the book seem much sillier than I think it was. Certainly, it ensured that the ending squicked the hell out of me.

Interesting if you want to see the chapters that Charlotte Bronte left behind, but for me this was pretty forgettable stuff. ( )

Clare Boylan, who sadly died in 2006, wrote her story using the first two chapters of a novel started by Charlotte Bronte entitled "Emma," as well as parts of a work entitled "The Story of Willie Ellin", then went off on her own. I will definitely agree with other reviewers who say that this book probably wouldn't have been the outcome of Charlotte Bronte's work, but all the same, it was quite good -- a page turner from start to finish. I read the entire story in one sitting, all 400+ pages.

The book begins with a young girl, Matilda Fitzgibbon, being left at a school for young ladies run by the misses Wilcox at Fuchsia Lodge. She has been left with beautiful clothes as well as instructions that she is to be favored by the headmistress. But toward Christmas time, Miss Mabel Wilcox writes the parents of her pupils about their plans for their children at Christmas vacation, and discovers that the address left by Matilda's father is nonexistent. Upon further checking, they find that Mr. Fitzgibbon himself is nonexistent, and thus that Matilda's fees are going to be left unpaid. This the Misses Wilcox cannot abide, and these revelations set into motion a story that at times will have you flipping pages wondering what else can possibly happen. It is part detective story, part a coming of age novel, part a novel about the refusal of the human spirit to be crushed, and on top of it all, very well written, even if it was not perhaps carried through the way Charlotte Bronte would have. It is a rather dark story the whole way through -- the kind of things Charlotte Bronte fans might actually enjoy.

I would most definitely recommend it to people who like a bit of the gothic in their reading, people who enjoy period pieces, and people who are looking for a good story. From start to finish you will not be let down, unless, of course, you are a Bronte purist and can't fathom someone else taking this all on. Understandable, so, if that's you, this probably isn't your cup of tea.

The characters are very well done, the action is nonstop, and this is a fine book all around. I highly recommend this one. ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2008/10... ( )

The only Charlotte Bronte book I've read is "Jane Eyre", and I've never read any Agatha Christie novels, but "Emma Brown" came across a little Miss Marple-y to me. That doesn't seem like Charlotte's style, but I greatly enjoyed the story. I was disappointed to discover that Clare Boylan's other writings were not in this period or style. ( )

While it may be "Brontean," it has much more a feel of Anne to it than Charlotte. The abused governess recalls Agnes Grey, and there are times when the novel's tone much more resembles the greater religiosity of Anne than Charlotte.

A more serious problem, though, is the author's problem with narrative point of view. Although Isa Chalfont is the ostensible narrator, the author has a tendency to slip into a more omniscient narrator in those chapters in which Mrs Chalfont isn't immediately present. This just isn't the skillful handling of a first person narration that Charlotte demonstrated in Jane Eyre or Villette or that Emily demonstrated in Wuthering Heights. It's the much less skillful narration of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

This book just doesn't have the feel of Charlotte to it. ( )