The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 1

By: Beth Brower

Libby audiobook 

Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt

Published: 2019 (this version 2025)

Genre: historical fiction

 

I loved this so much that I wanted to re-listen to it, but it auto-returned before I could. I may just have to get the physical, print books (in order? to purchase?) to enjoy. Set in 1883 London, the story is told through journal entries. Emma M. Lion has been orphaned and misused by her relations. She goes to live in the Lapis Lazuli House, the home she will inherit once she comes of age.

 

 I have some quick notes:

Aunt Eugenia Spenser  and cousins Damian and Arabella (mother's side). Cousins Mathilde and Archibald (dad's side - nasty, awful people).

 

Vicar Young Hawkes - I'm super curious about him!

 

The Scar / Maxwell / The Great Burning of 1882 . . . we learn some of this, but much of it must be revealed in later volumes.

 

Trewartha! Made me think of my friend Deb.

 

"Gossip is as catching as the Plague ever was."

 

Lapis Lazuli - brilliant blue

 

St. Crispian's / Whereabouts Lane / Traitor's Road / - I wonder if the print books include a map. I wonder how much is factual about this neighborhood and how much is creative. 

 

I've requested the print book of volume #1 from the Scott County library. It will probably take me most of the summer to read these (with long waits on holds). Ah, well. I can be patient. I'll update this entry after reading the print book. 

 

<Above published 5.18.2026. Below added 7.20.2026.>

 

I have finished reading volume 1 and I loved it! I may seriously buy this series. There's a long wait at the library for #2.

 

I purposely didn't put tons of post-it notes in it. I just love her language and this protagonist so much!

 

Page 28: It is not that he is a hermit, or narcissistic, or odd - he simply maintains an economy of interaction that is spare in its elegance.

 

Here Emma is referring to an encounter she had with Young Hawkes (the vicar). I just love how this author expresses herself.

 

Page 49: After I'd been sent to the butchers, I'd returned to find Matilde in the middle of The Great Burning of 1882. Every journal, letter, every word I'd written, even the diary I'd kept as a child - ash. My own Alexandria.

 

How heart-breaking! To have your own thoughts, writing, etc. completely destroyed by an awful person. How sad. To call it her "own Alexandria" - poetic.

 

I do think I'd like to own this series, but I'll wait until I've read more of them. They are short, quick books to read, but filled with lovely words, characters, and ideas. I'm curious to learn more about Maxwell, the new renter, and Emma's future.