I've had this lying on my bookshelves for years, and was happy to have it immediately to hand right after reading Jane Austen's The Watsons, an abandoned fragment of a novel of only 17,500 words. I quite liked Emma Watson, Austen's protagonist. Like Fanny Price, she's someone who was raised away from her birth family by a rich relation--except she had expectations of being an heiress, which were disappointed by her rich aunt marrying again, throwing her back to her original family. Her family is respected enough to be able to mix with the best families, including a Lord interested in Emma, and comfortable enough to have a servant, but in the circles they run around in are considered "poor." Only nineteen, Emma has a lot more confidence than Fanny Price, and a lot less snobbishness than her namesake Emma Woodhouse. She endeared herself to me when she goes to the rescue of a ten-year-old boy stood up at a dance. I'm only sorry there wasn't more, and we had to leave Emma soon after a ball parting from her brother and his wife.

So I grabbed Aiken's novel, said to be a continuation, and was immediately disappointed--because what it really is, is more a re-imagining. It doesn't take up where Austen left off or use any passages of the original but reworks the material, and coming straight from the wellspring it seemed a rather poor imitation of Austen's style without Austen's insights and wit--and I was immediately struck by pointless differences. Mrs Blake in Austen's novel is a widow--in Aiken's she's the wife of a living naval officer. And in Austen's novel Emma's invalid father seems, even if physically weak, still sharp mentally while Aiken makes him befuddled.

That's nothing compared though to the marked difference in quality. I don't expect Aiken to equal Austen, who is one of the great novelists in the English language, but if this were a Regency romance with no connection to Austen, it wouldn't recommend itself as in any way exceptional. And as a continuation--well, Austen told her sister Cassandra her intentions and I read them at the end of the text of The Watsons--Aiken doesn't honor them. So I can't recommend this either as a "completion" of The Watsons for those who'd love to see Austen's intentions played out or a romantic historical novel on its own merits. ( )

Well, I just finished reading yet another Austen-inspired book titled, The Watsons (courtesy of Miss Austen) & Emma Watson (contributed by Joan Aiken). Aiken takes the readers through her vision of where The Watsons would have ended--had Austen's novel been completed.

I wish I could say this was a truly astounding book, but at the most, it was an interesting read. In my opinion, you really have to get over the hang up of Aiken diverting so much from Austen's writing style in order to accept the story. On it's own, it may have been fine, but when you pair it up with The Watsons and jump from one story straight to the other, well...there's a huge feeling of dischord.

My strongest feeling about the book was the disappointment in Aiken's use of the male characters. Without giving too much away, Emma has a selection of men presented to her throughout the story, yet her romantic interest winds up very briefly and really without much to ponder on. A character plucked out of nowhere and set in front of her and she decides this is it? Come now...a little more depth to the relationship would have been glady appreciated!

The other relationships in the novel are typical and non-eventful. Very few surprises at all. The Watson sisters remind me a great deal of another famous set of sisters (hint...P&P). Perhaps that's where Aiken drew from when she fleshed out her characters. I could almost have imagined the story as an alternate ending for P&P had Lizzy and Jane not found their true loves.

All in all, the book kept my attention, though perhaps not for all the right reasons. I was really curious most of the time to see what more sad events could befall Emma. The more I got away from The Watsons, the more I was able to enjoy Aiken's style for her own and not constantly compare it to Miss Austen's....which seemed only fair to both women! Truly, no one is comparable to the Miss Austen!! ( )

I don't expect Aiken to fool me into thinking that this is Austen's work, but I do expect a competent novel. This was initially promising, but it begins to descend into melodrama. The ending is very perfunctory; the heroine finds her "true love" with almost magically with little development of their relationship. What is there is quite good, it is just not substantial enough for me to believe that the moment Emma catches sight of him, she knows that they are going to be married.

After reading this and Lady Catherine's necklace, Aiken's sequel to Pride and Prejudice, it appears to me that the author is rather bored with romances - I strongly recommend that she try writing something else. It is possible to write a historical novel of this period without leeching off of Austen.

I strongly recommend John Coates' finishing of this fragment, The Watsons. ( )