Review by I Love Fiction (10/10)
Here’s an extract from the review on http://ilovefictionreview.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/the-importance-of-being-emma-by-juliet-archer/:
As some of you regular readers know, I am a big Jane Austen fan, and I’ve read quite a few modern versions of her work (Melissa Nathan, Kate Fenton spring to mind, as well as Bridget Jones).
What I have found in reading these books is that they are usually only very loosely based around the original story. This has been a little frustrating for me as I often wondered why they had been changed so much when the original was so good.
But lo and behold, at last, a modern version of a Jane Austen book that sticks to the original story, and is a fantastic read.
I loved the way this novel took all the characters you love in the original Emma and planted them into the modern world - it worked really well.
Emma herself is still both lovely and extremely irritating at times (just like the original). Mark Knightley is every woman’s dream, and Juliet did a great job of giving both of them a history (and no, Emma isn’t a virgin).
This book also has a lot of humour in it, which will always get bonus points from me.
So overall, if you love Jane Austen and want to read something fresh and new, then this is the book for you. If you don’t like Jane Austen because it’s a historical novel or some other strange reason like you have no taste, then this is the book for you too. You’ll be very pleasantly surprised.
Juliet has her version of Persuasion coming out next, which I’m very excited about.
Rating 10/10
