Joanna Trollope’s View of The Importance of Being Emma!
I met Joanna Trollope - one of my writing icons - at the 2009 Melissa Nathan Award ceremony and thought she was a very approachable and delightful person.
I thought she was even more delightful when she read out her view of The Importance of Being Emma. It went something like this:
‘This is a novel based as a loving tribute to the sacred Jane Austen’s Emma. The trouble about doing anything anywhere in the aura of Jane Austen is that, not only do the fans of Jane Austen know every single word of her novels, but they are also extremely possessive about them.
‘But this is more, I have to say, than a brave try at updating a sacred classic. It’s an ingenious, often effective and very affectionate tribute to a great predecessor, with some witty contemporary versions of characters that I think Jane Austen herself would have loved.
‘And I also very much appreciated the chance to get inside Mr Knightley’s head, which turned out to be a much livelier place than I had ever supposed the original to be!
‘So huge congratulations, well done and I look forward very much to seeing what you do with the interior life of Captain Wentworth in your next.’
(Transcribed here with the kind permission of Joanna Trollope)
