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Jane Fairfax
A favourite game of the rich and beautiful Emma Woodhouse is dabbling in the marriage market, where she plays with everyone’s hearts except her own.
But, for Jane Fairfax, the other heroine of Jane Austen's Emma , marriage is not a game. Orphaned and without a dowry to attract a husband, she must rely on her charms to secure an engagement, or find work as a governess.
In a superb companion novel to Austen's romance, Joan Aiken reveals another world unknown to Emma - this is Jane's secret story of love and heartache.
But, for Jane Fairfax, the other heroine of Jane Austen's Emma , marriage is not a game. Orphaned and without a dowry to attract a husband, she must rely on her charms to secure an engagement, or find work as a governess.
In a superb companion novel to Austen's romance, Joan Aiken reveals another world unknown to Emma - this is Jane's secret story of love and heartache.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1990
27 people are currently reading
3259 people want to read
About the author
Joan Aiken
331 books600 followersJoan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.
She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).
Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.
Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.
Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.
Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.
She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).
Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.
Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.
Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.
Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 275 reviews
September 15, 2022
OH, PUR-LEASEEEEEEE!!
YES, THAT BAD! It's an insipid & silly insult to Austen's genius.
PLUS it's obvious that the author had no idea what Emma was about and severely misunderstood Jane Fairfax's character & motives.
I am not much inclined to write a longer review about this, because it just does not deserve it. Maybe later... when I am a bit less pissed off.
YES, THAT BAD! It's an insipid & silly insult to Austen's genius.
PLUS it's obvious that the author had no idea what Emma was about and severely misunderstood Jane Fairfax's character & motives.
I am not much inclined to write a longer review about this, because it just does not deserve it. Maybe later... when I am a bit less pissed off.
July 20, 2021
A very enjoyable read, and a strong and engaging retelling focusing on a fascinating character. I'd definitely recommend.
August 31, 2017
For my full review: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2...
Early in this year's Austen in August, I discovered that well-known author Joan Aiken had penned several Austen spin-offs. Given how much I enjoyed her Black Hearts in Battersea series, I was at once intrigued. The consensus appeared to be that the best of her work was Jane Fairfax and since that lady is one of Austen's more thought-provoking minor characters, I decided to risk my reading time on another Austen spin-off. Alas. The disappointment for me here is that not only has Aiken not produced a good Austen spin-off, it's also not a good book. Like PD James' Death Comes To Pemberley, this feels more like a vanity project rather than a sincere attempt to engage with Austen's characters and I finished reminding myself once again that spin-off literature is more full of dust than diamonds.
In attempting to understand why an author as clearly able as Aiken would produce something as dull and dim-witted, I got to thinking about the original story glimpsed in Emma. Jane Fairfax is the elegant and demure niece of the impoverished Mrs and Miss Bates and since she is the exact same age as Emma Woodhouse, it has long been assumed that the two young ladies must be friends. Emma however finds Jane too polished and perfect - or is it possibly that she unwilling to kow-tow to Emma's wealth? Emma's 'friendship' with Harriet Smith implies that Emma is not looking for equality in her companions, being determined to be always placed first. Emma is jealous of Jane Fairfax's good looks and musical talent whilst simultaneously congratulating herself for her own good taste in being able to recognise Jane's superiority. With Jane having been brought up by the Campbells, who were friends of her father, she has travelled more than Emma and is assumed to be more worldly. However, now that the Campbells' daughter is married, it is expected that she will have to make her way in the world as a governess. Emma is certain that there is some scandal involving Jane Fairfax and Mr Dixon, the new husband of Miss Campbell and along with Frank Churchill, attempts to uncover the secret. As the novel heads towards its conclusion however, it transpires that Frank Churchill has been playing a double game and that he and Jane Fairfax have been engaged the whole time. The whole point of Emma is that she is clueless about the world around her while telling herself that she sees all and her misunderstanding of the connection between Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax is ultimate example of this.
The secret romance between Jane and Frank threads through the novel and becomes very obvious on the re-read. He fusses and sulks over having to go and call on the Bateses since due to having met her at Weymouth, there is 'just the degree of acquaintance' between him and Miss Fairfax, it would be rude to do otherwise. He asks his father to ask Miss Bates in supposedly because that lady's chatter amuses him, then Mr Weston says that if they're asking Miss Bates, they really ought to ask Miss Fairfax. Frank Churchill is forever engineering quiet moments between himself and Miss Fairfax and nobody notices. When he is grumpy at Box Hill, we later realise that it is because the pair have quarrelled and when he rescues Harriet from the gypsies, he is only on the spot because he has just left a secret rendez-vous with Jane.
I was interested to note in other reviews of Jane Fairfax that certain readers believe that the tale of Jane Fairfax is more interesting than that of Emma Woodhouse. With its twists and turns and trickery, it would be the more obvious fodder for a novelist. Jane Austen however turns away from their story because contrary to popular opinion, she was not a romance novelist. She focuses her novel instead on the stuck-up girl's journey towards self-discovery. Jane and Frank's affair is a tease - we can see that something is going on but Emma is utterly oblivious to it so we never get to look closer. The few hints we have dropped to us however imply a love that is truly passionate - the couple within Austen's canon who risk the most for love are the pair who are barely ever seen to speak to each other.
Aiken's novel starts promisingly and I was impressed by how she seemed to sustain the Austen-esque cadence within her prose - the opening pages seemed almost plausibly written by the great lady herself. The idea of Jane Fairfax growing up wearing Emma Woodhouse's cast-off 'wearing apparel' was an intriguing one, further linking these two unwilling friends together. Equally the idea of them sharing a music master as an act of charity from Mrs Woodhouse. It seemed entirely plausible that Mrs Woodhouse should have died in childbirth and that the child Emma should become impossible to deal with - but it all began to go a little pear-shaped when Aiken had Emma turn against Jane when she discovered that Mrs Woodhouse had bequeathed Jane money for her education.
Matters head further towards the absurd when young Jane is packed off to be raised by the Campbells. The emphasis on how foreign their customs are, the way in which Colonel Campbell goes from kindly and understanding to domestic tyrant and then back again repeatedly, to the strange Mary-Sue-ish Rachel Campbell - it rather stretches credulity. Likewise the introduction of the Dixon characters, referred to repeatedly as 'Matt' and 'Sam'. Because that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb at all in a story that is intended to be a spin-off from a book where a man (Frank Churchill) makes a point about referring to his fiancée as Miss Fairfax because he wants to show her respect. It's unfortunate because it means that the characters over whom Aiken has the greatest creative control are the most unbelievable and inconsistent with the parent-narrative.
The problems with this book go a good deal deeper though. We are told that Mrs Campbell's mother, who comes to live with the family, has a vendetta against Jane and then there is the 'bracelet affair' which causes the death of Jane and Rachel's young ladies' maid. This happens, we are assured it is important, then it is never referred to again. This is just poor plotting - and then it gets worse. Much is made in Emma of the moment where Jane Fairfax is almost swept overboard while on a boat outing and then is saved by Mr Dixon (or 'Matt'). Emma Woodhouse decides that this means that there is a forbidden love between Miss Fairfax and Mr Dixon - she is looking for a scandal. The reader can deduce from Frank Churchill that this is more likely the moment that he realised the depths of his own feelings. For Aiken to dismiss this scene and place it 'offstage' is one of the worst mistakes that this book makes. That should have been the key pressure point within her novel. Instead, Aiken spends far too much of the novel being just as foolish as Emma Woodhouse herself, implying that Jane is in love with 'Matt'. We already know that she was not, because Emma said she was and Emma is always wrong.
In Aiken's novel, Frank Churchill is quieter and less foolish - less interesting. His love springs on Jane as a surprise while she is mourning the sacrifice of 'Matt' to her friend Rachel. It never seems as if she actually loves him, meaning that all the later Highbury sufferings are meaningless. She is watching her betrothed flirt with Emma and caring very little. She is not hoping against hope that they will be able to find a way to be together, she is still weighing up whether being a governess might not be slightly better than chancing a partnership with someone so unreliable. Aiken throws in stray plot ideas as if she is out of inspiration - one minute men are proposing to Jane left right and centre because they erroneously believe that she will come with a dowry, then there is a race between Rachel and her cousin Charlotte since whoever marries first will inherit jewels. In the midst of it all, Rachel laments that moving to Ireland for her husband will mean that she will lose her career as a 'political cartoonist', but the reader can hardly be expected to care about something mentioned for five lines fifty pages ago. Jane Fairfax is an odd, odd book - it is not just that it fails to marry up with the original narrative, but Aiken also manages to make it a very dull story.
So - as is no doubt clear, this is not a book that I could recommend. Still, I did find myself wondering - Emma was put off by the reticence of Miss Fairfax's character, by the perfection of her features and accomplishments - is Jane Fairfax perhaps too flawless to be a compelling heroine? Many people have taken against Emma down the centuries because she is snobbish and insensitive and frankly stupid - but is it easier to love someone who has imperfections than someone like Jane? In narrative tradition, Miss Fairfax would be the more classical heroine - poor but deserving, beautiful and hard-working, trying to live a blameless and virtuous life and finally rescued by a kind and rich gentleman. Except that said gentleman has some decidedly ungentlemanly qualities and it seems implicitly acknowledged that it is not fair that it is either this or the governess trade. Emma was Austen's most sophisticated novel and she was doing something very clever with the character of Jane Fairfax but you would never guess so from reading Jane Fairfax.
Early in this year's Austen in August, I discovered that well-known author Joan Aiken had penned several Austen spin-offs. Given how much I enjoyed her Black Hearts in Battersea series, I was at once intrigued. The consensus appeared to be that the best of her work was Jane Fairfax and since that lady is one of Austen's more thought-provoking minor characters, I decided to risk my reading time on another Austen spin-off. Alas. The disappointment for me here is that not only has Aiken not produced a good Austen spin-off, it's also not a good book. Like PD James' Death Comes To Pemberley, this feels more like a vanity project rather than a sincere attempt to engage with Austen's characters and I finished reminding myself once again that spin-off literature is more full of dust than diamonds.
In attempting to understand why an author as clearly able as Aiken would produce something as dull and dim-witted, I got to thinking about the original story glimpsed in Emma. Jane Fairfax is the elegant and demure niece of the impoverished Mrs and Miss Bates and since she is the exact same age as Emma Woodhouse, it has long been assumed that the two young ladies must be friends. Emma however finds Jane too polished and perfect - or is it possibly that she unwilling to kow-tow to Emma's wealth? Emma's 'friendship' with Harriet Smith implies that Emma is not looking for equality in her companions, being determined to be always placed first. Emma is jealous of Jane Fairfax's good looks and musical talent whilst simultaneously congratulating herself for her own good taste in being able to recognise Jane's superiority. With Jane having been brought up by the Campbells, who were friends of her father, she has travelled more than Emma and is assumed to be more worldly. However, now that the Campbells' daughter is married, it is expected that she will have to make her way in the world as a governess. Emma is certain that there is some scandal involving Jane Fairfax and Mr Dixon, the new husband of Miss Campbell and along with Frank Churchill, attempts to uncover the secret. As the novel heads towards its conclusion however, it transpires that Frank Churchill has been playing a double game and that he and Jane Fairfax have been engaged the whole time. The whole point of Emma is that she is clueless about the world around her while telling herself that she sees all and her misunderstanding of the connection between Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax is ultimate example of this.
The secret romance between Jane and Frank threads through the novel and becomes very obvious on the re-read. He fusses and sulks over having to go and call on the Bateses since due to having met her at Weymouth, there is 'just the degree of acquaintance' between him and Miss Fairfax, it would be rude to do otherwise. He asks his father to ask Miss Bates in supposedly because that lady's chatter amuses him, then Mr Weston says that if they're asking Miss Bates, they really ought to ask Miss Fairfax. Frank Churchill is forever engineering quiet moments between himself and Miss Fairfax and nobody notices. When he is grumpy at Box Hill, we later realise that it is because the pair have quarrelled and when he rescues Harriet from the gypsies, he is only on the spot because he has just left a secret rendez-vous with Jane.
I was interested to note in other reviews of Jane Fairfax that certain readers believe that the tale of Jane Fairfax is more interesting than that of Emma Woodhouse. With its twists and turns and trickery, it would be the more obvious fodder for a novelist. Jane Austen however turns away from their story because contrary to popular opinion, she was not a romance novelist. She focuses her novel instead on the stuck-up girl's journey towards self-discovery. Jane and Frank's affair is a tease - we can see that something is going on but Emma is utterly oblivious to it so we never get to look closer. The few hints we have dropped to us however imply a love that is truly passionate - the couple within Austen's canon who risk the most for love are the pair who are barely ever seen to speak to each other.
Aiken's novel starts promisingly and I was impressed by how she seemed to sustain the Austen-esque cadence within her prose - the opening pages seemed almost plausibly written by the great lady herself. The idea of Jane Fairfax growing up wearing Emma Woodhouse's cast-off 'wearing apparel' was an intriguing one, further linking these two unwilling friends together. Equally the idea of them sharing a music master as an act of charity from Mrs Woodhouse. It seemed entirely plausible that Mrs Woodhouse should have died in childbirth and that the child Emma should become impossible to deal with - but it all began to go a little pear-shaped when Aiken had Emma turn against Jane when she discovered that Mrs Woodhouse had bequeathed Jane money for her education.
Matters head further towards the absurd when young Jane is packed off to be raised by the Campbells. The emphasis on how foreign their customs are, the way in which Colonel Campbell goes from kindly and understanding to domestic tyrant and then back again repeatedly, to the strange Mary-Sue-ish Rachel Campbell - it rather stretches credulity. Likewise the introduction of the Dixon characters, referred to repeatedly as 'Matt' and 'Sam'. Because that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb at all in a story that is intended to be a spin-off from a book where a man (Frank Churchill) makes a point about referring to his fiancée as Miss Fairfax because he wants to show her respect. It's unfortunate because it means that the characters over whom Aiken has the greatest creative control are the most unbelievable and inconsistent with the parent-narrative.
The problems with this book go a good deal deeper though. We are told that Mrs Campbell's mother, who comes to live with the family, has a vendetta against Jane and then there is the 'bracelet affair' which causes the death of Jane and Rachel's young ladies' maid. This happens, we are assured it is important, then it is never referred to again. This is just poor plotting - and then it gets worse. Much is made in Emma of the moment where Jane Fairfax is almost swept overboard while on a boat outing and then is saved by Mr Dixon (or 'Matt'). Emma Woodhouse decides that this means that there is a forbidden love between Miss Fairfax and Mr Dixon - she is looking for a scandal. The reader can deduce from Frank Churchill that this is more likely the moment that he realised the depths of his own feelings. For Aiken to dismiss this scene and place it 'offstage' is one of the worst mistakes that this book makes. That should have been the key pressure point within her novel. Instead, Aiken spends far too much of the novel being just as foolish as Emma Woodhouse herself, implying that Jane is in love with 'Matt'. We already know that she was not, because Emma said she was and Emma is always wrong.
In Aiken's novel, Frank Churchill is quieter and less foolish - less interesting. His love springs on Jane as a surprise while she is mourning the sacrifice of 'Matt' to her friend Rachel. It never seems as if she actually loves him, meaning that all the later Highbury sufferings are meaningless. She is watching her betrothed flirt with Emma and caring very little. She is not hoping against hope that they will be able to find a way to be together, she is still weighing up whether being a governess might not be slightly better than chancing a partnership with someone so unreliable. Aiken throws in stray plot ideas as if she is out of inspiration - one minute men are proposing to Jane left right and centre because they erroneously believe that she will come with a dowry, then there is a race between Rachel and her cousin Charlotte since whoever marries first will inherit jewels. In the midst of it all, Rachel laments that moving to Ireland for her husband will mean that she will lose her career as a 'political cartoonist', but the reader can hardly be expected to care about something mentioned for five lines fifty pages ago. Jane Fairfax is an odd, odd book - it is not just that it fails to marry up with the original narrative, but Aiken also manages to make it a very dull story.
So - as is no doubt clear, this is not a book that I could recommend. Still, I did find myself wondering - Emma was put off by the reticence of Miss Fairfax's character, by the perfection of her features and accomplishments - is Jane Fairfax perhaps too flawless to be a compelling heroine? Many people have taken against Emma down the centuries because she is snobbish and insensitive and frankly stupid - but is it easier to love someone who has imperfections than someone like Jane? In narrative tradition, Miss Fairfax would be the more classical heroine - poor but deserving, beautiful and hard-working, trying to live a blameless and virtuous life and finally rescued by a kind and rich gentleman. Except that said gentleman has some decidedly ungentlemanly qualities and it seems implicitly acknowledged that it is not fair that it is either this or the governess trade. Emma was Austen's most sophisticated novel and she was doing something very clever with the character of Jane Fairfax but you would never guess so from reading Jane Fairfax.
June 10, 2023
4.5⭐️ This was such an enjoyable retelling of Austen’s Emma. I may have enjoyed it more if Emma or Frank Churchill had not been a part of the story! 😆 They are a couple of my least favorite Austen characters. But I really liked getting to know Jane better. I will definitely read more of Aiken’s retellings.
July 28, 2008
Brilliant style, Jane Fairfax is written with full compliance with Emma yet with undertones that enhance rather than diminish Jane Austen. What I learned from this book was more than what I learned about Emma, with grace, without heavy handedness, the book is fully accomplished craft. To my wondering eyes, the author unfolds depths of understanding of motivation and characterization Jane left for the reader to discern. I even see Emma herself with new eyes - 'the hundred pounds', Frank Churchill more fully realized, and Jane Fairfax herself is wonderful with her compassion, surrender and wisdom grown from a deep morality. What Joan Aiken has done in remaining true to the Emma story, with no frills or impossible plot twists, is to widen Emma as well as give a deeply satisfying read on its own merit. I felt like I was reading Emma for the first time, even though it is one of my most beloved books over the decades, frequently re-read. As Booklist said, 'extraordinarily well done.' Not a 'badly done' in it.
September 3, 2025
What an absolute delight this book is.
Having such a great fondness for Austen, this book is a good example as a continuation of her legacy.
I have never thought about Jane Fairfax as a particularly memorable character. (Emma being such a forceful character) In this narrative, she is given dimensions and personality in a wonderful way.
Having such a great fondness for Austen, this book is a good example as a continuation of her legacy.
I have never thought about Jane Fairfax as a particularly memorable character. (Emma being such a forceful character) In this narrative, she is given dimensions and personality in a wonderful way.
April 28, 2013
I had mixed feelings about this one. I loved Joan Aiken's Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and I felt that the concept of this book was brilliant. The subtitle of this book alludes to it being the "secret story of the second heroine of Emma," the very private and reserved Jane Fairfax. In Emma, Jane Fairfax initially appears to exist only as a foil for the main character: she is a deserving and gifted beauty that is doomed to a life of drudgery as a governess because she has no diary. But as Austen's novel winds to a close, Jane Fairfax is revealed to have been holding on to a deep secret that leads to her own happy ending, and proves pivotal in bringing the other deserving couples of the novel together.
Having read -- and loved -- Emma, I really wanted to love this book. There was so much potential here. And there were parts that I did love. I liked the depiction of Jane's early childhood and her education with Colonel Campbell. I liked that we traveled everywhere Jane Fairfax did, giving this book far more scope for character interactions than Austen had.
SPOILERS BELOW:
But there are some serious flaws here that I found hard to take. I didn't care that the storytelling style was different than Austen's. Few Austen sequels manage to emulate her narrative voice and the wit of her dialogue. I didn't care that the author messed up her research a little by having women go to a funeral. Women in Austen's day did not attend funerals. But I did mind it when Joan Aiken changed the characters of the original book. Miss Bates was a non-stop talker in Emma, and a source of much of the original book's humor. Here, she sounded almost normal, boring non-entity.
In the original book, Emma draws an incorrect conclusion about Jane Fairfax, assuming that she is harboring a secret love (perhaps even an affair) with Mr. Dixon, the husband of her childhood friend. She then shares this conclusion with others, needlessly smearing Jane Fairfax's reputation. But it is revealed in Austen's novel that Emma was incorrect, and wrong to spread this baseless rumor. Because of this, I felt cheated when Aiken had Jane Fairfax be in love with Mr. Dixon in this novel.
But nothing was more upsetting to me than having no real love affair with Frank Churchill. Frank Churchill in Emma was charming and a talented music performer. I had read the book hoping for the scene where Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill fall in love in Weymouth, perhaps during a performance on the pianoforte. Frank Churchill was a complicated character that exuded charm in Emma; I was hoping to see that side of him in this book.
I will give the Aiken points for showing Jane Fairfax's later exasperation with Frank Churchill... That *was* fun. However, I wanted a reason why Jane Fairfax would have waited for him and put up with all his bad behavior. I wanted more love and affection than what existed between the two.
It was not a terrible book -- far from it. I gave it three stars because it was so well written. But it lost two stars for lack of faithfulness to the original material.
Having read -- and loved -- Emma, I really wanted to love this book. There was so much potential here. And there were parts that I did love. I liked the depiction of Jane's early childhood and her education with Colonel Campbell. I liked that we traveled everywhere Jane Fairfax did, giving this book far more scope for character interactions than Austen had.
SPOILERS BELOW:
But there are some serious flaws here that I found hard to take. I didn't care that the storytelling style was different than Austen's. Few Austen sequels manage to emulate her narrative voice and the wit of her dialogue. I didn't care that the author messed up her research a little by having women go to a funeral. Women in Austen's day did not attend funerals. But I did mind it when Joan Aiken changed the characters of the original book. Miss Bates was a non-stop talker in Emma, and a source of much of the original book's humor. Here, she sounded almost normal, boring non-entity.
In the original book, Emma draws an incorrect conclusion about Jane Fairfax, assuming that she is harboring a secret love (perhaps even an affair) with Mr. Dixon, the husband of her childhood friend. She then shares this conclusion with others, needlessly smearing Jane Fairfax's reputation. But it is revealed in Austen's novel that Emma was incorrect, and wrong to spread this baseless rumor. Because of this, I felt cheated when Aiken had Jane Fairfax be in love with Mr. Dixon in this novel.
But nothing was more upsetting to me than having no real love affair with Frank Churchill. Frank Churchill in Emma was charming and a talented music performer. I had read the book hoping for the scene where Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill fall in love in Weymouth, perhaps during a performance on the pianoforte. Frank Churchill was a complicated character that exuded charm in Emma; I was hoping to see that side of him in this book.
I will give the Aiken points for showing Jane Fairfax's later exasperation with Frank Churchill... That *was* fun. However, I wanted a reason why Jane Fairfax would have waited for him and put up with all his bad behavior. I wanted more love and affection than what existed between the two.
It was not a terrible book -- far from it. I gave it three stars because it was so well written. But it lost two stars for lack of faithfulness to the original material.
October 3, 2015
In honor of the 200th Anniversary of Jane Austen's Emma, I have been reading stories set in that world. I love it when an author tackles a secondary character and gives them their own story. In this case, it is the enigmatic Jane Fairfax. Jane was the woman that Emma set up as her own rival and was engaged to a man that was an iffy choice for hero. I was so curious to see what the author would do with Jane's story.
I found the treatment of Jane's character, her background, and her circumstances away from Highbury, the setting of Emma, was fascinating and believable. The author's writing had a classical tone to it and she wrote Jane's story and Jane Fairfax herself without rose-colored glasses and if it had a fairy tale quality to it, it wasn't the bright romanticized version. I loved this story for its bittersweet taste.
Truly, there are only two things I would change. I didn't like that Emma becomes almost a villainess in what felt like a 'push Emma down to pull Jane up'. I also wanted a bit more in the end. Jane spent a lot of the book away from Frank and she endured so much while they were secretly engaged. I wanted to see her in happy circumstances when the conflict was resolved.
But the story was not all melancholy. The treatment of Miss Bates and Mrs. Elton had me snickering. Miss Bates the chatterbox and Mrs. Elton the vulgar, sneerer were well-written.
The setting, thoughts, actions, conversations, and overall feeling felt true to the historical period and situation. The author did beautiful work and left me believing I was the words of someone strongly acquainted with Jane Austen's voice and works.
I would definitely recommend this as a good sequel to Jane Austen's Emma and because of the way it is written, the reader should have some acquaintance with the original story to appreciate this book.
I found the treatment of Jane's character, her background, and her circumstances away from Highbury, the setting of Emma, was fascinating and believable. The author's writing had a classical tone to it and she wrote Jane's story and Jane Fairfax herself without rose-colored glasses and if it had a fairy tale quality to it, it wasn't the bright romanticized version. I loved this story for its bittersweet taste.
Truly, there are only two things I would change. I didn't like that Emma becomes almost a villainess in what felt like a 'push Emma down to pull Jane up'. I also wanted a bit more in the end. Jane spent a lot of the book away from Frank and she endured so much while they were secretly engaged. I wanted to see her in happy circumstances when the conflict was resolved.
But the story was not all melancholy. The treatment of Miss Bates and Mrs. Elton had me snickering. Miss Bates the chatterbox and Mrs. Elton the vulgar, sneerer were well-written.
The setting, thoughts, actions, conversations, and overall feeling felt true to the historical period and situation. The author did beautiful work and left me believing I was the words of someone strongly acquainted with Jane Austen's voice and works.
I would definitely recommend this as a good sequel to Jane Austen's Emma and because of the way it is written, the reader should have some acquaintance with the original story to appreciate this book.
November 2, 2018
I have a bit of a stubborn streak - something to which my friends and family can readily attest - and can be somewhat slow in learning my lesson... So it is, that although I thoroughly disliked Joan Aiken's
Eliza's Daughter
, a "sequel" to
Sense and Sensibility
, I still picked up this retelling of Jane Austen's
Emma
. I do love Aiken, and was hoping, perhaps, that Jane Fairfax would be an improvement upon my earlier experience. I should have known better...
Now, I am no fan of Emma Woodhouse, and have always felt that Jane Fairfax was precisely the sort of quiet character whose full story would make for fascinating reading. But although Aiken brings her to center stage, she still seems oddly dull and unattractive. Once again, Austen's beloved characters are mutated beyond recognition, and all of Jane's loving nature - hinted at in the original - seems replaced by a sad, grudging resignation. Her devotion to her impoverished aunt and grandmother, her strength of character - perhaps best embodied by her refusal to gossip about her circumstances with Emma - are curiously absent.
While I certainly agree that Aiken is a better writer than many of the Austen "sequelers" out there, her skills are simply not sufficient to convince me that these are Austen's characters. And given that they are not, why not just write this novel as an independent venture?
Now, I am no fan of Emma Woodhouse, and have always felt that Jane Fairfax was precisely the sort of quiet character whose full story would make for fascinating reading. But although Aiken brings her to center stage, she still seems oddly dull and unattractive. Once again, Austen's beloved characters are mutated beyond recognition, and all of Jane's loving nature - hinted at in the original - seems replaced by a sad, grudging resignation. Her devotion to her impoverished aunt and grandmother, her strength of character - perhaps best embodied by her refusal to gossip about her circumstances with Emma - are curiously absent.
While I certainly agree that Aiken is a better writer than many of the Austen "sequelers" out there, her skills are simply not sufficient to convince me that these are Austen's characters. And given that they are not, why not just write this novel as an independent venture?
August 30, 2009
What a wonderful book. No, it is not in the style of Jane Austen, but if that is not important to you then it is a great book for you to read. It takes you back into the beginning when Emma and Jane were little playmates. If you read Emma and wondered what her childhood was like, then you will love this book. You can discover the real reason why Emma dislikes Jane.
What is so terrific about this book is that you fall in love with Jane, she really is the second heroine of the novel. It is wonderful to be inside her head and find out why she had a secret engagement with Frank Churchill. She is such a sweet and endearing heroine, and in addition she is strong, intelligent, and loving. You will grow to like her and grow to dislike Emma. Which makes you wonder, isn't that the way it is supposed to be? Jane Austen's own words were that she created a character that no one but herself will like. Furthermore, it follows Jane's life you learn what happened in Weymouth, and who the Dixon's are. You go on an emotional journey with her. Her struggle with being poor and her love for her aunts.
If you root for the under dog then this is the book for you. Or if you loved the movie Emma, you love this too, you will wish that they will make it into a movie someday
What is so terrific about this book is that you fall in love with Jane, she really is the second heroine of the novel. It is wonderful to be inside her head and find out why she had a secret engagement with Frank Churchill. She is such a sweet and endearing heroine, and in addition she is strong, intelligent, and loving. You will grow to like her and grow to dislike Emma. Which makes you wonder, isn't that the way it is supposed to be? Jane Austen's own words were that she created a character that no one but herself will like. Furthermore, it follows Jane's life you learn what happened in Weymouth, and who the Dixon's are. You go on an emotional journey with her. Her struggle with being poor and her love for her aunts.
If you root for the under dog then this is the book for you. Or if you loved the movie Emma, you love this too, you will wish that they will make it into a movie someday
August 18, 2010
I felt like the author was doing well developing some characters that weren't as well developed in Emma then all of a sudden she had a deadline to make so she wrapped the book up early. I enjoyed the book up to the point where (I don't think this is a spoiler, since it's in Emma) Frank Churchill proposed the secret engagement. The whole last section in Highbury seemed rushed and it never seemed like Jane liked Frank enough. So it made me sad that she seemed to be settling. It's a shame, because I think Joan Aiken could have taken a little more time to develop a romance between Jane and Frank, but instead the proposal just came out of left field and then she spent the rest of the book comparing him to other men.
That said, I think the first two-thirds or so were pretty good (not Austen good, but a worthy summer read) and probably worth putting up with the end.
That said, I think the first two-thirds or so were pretty good (not Austen good, but a worthy summer read) and probably worth putting up with the end.
July 23, 2021
There are so many things that I didn’t like about this book. Starting near the beginning where an 8 year old Jane repeatedly stands up to Colonel Campbell and his bullying ways (which seems out of character for her and indeed what in her upbringing would have prepared her for handling him?). All the way to the end when Jane is still comparing Frank Churchill unfavorably to other men (Knightley and Dixon) even as their engagement is announced. I never got the impression that Jane ever loved Frank, he just seemed like the next best option since she couldn’t have either of the men she loved and didn’t really want to be a governess. Frank at least loved her. The author seemed to have picked all the wrong things in Emma to expand on (the Dixon affair) while other parts were barely mentioned. I mean, the Box Hill picnic takes up all of two pages, then leaps right to the outing at Donwell Abbey. We don’t even get to see Miss Bates’ reaction to Jane’s engagement. The ending conversation between Jane and Emma was strange, too. At least now they aren’t enemies??
July 19, 2023
4.5🌟 I've never liked the novel Emma so much until I read this book! Reading the story from Jane's point of view totally changed how I view the original by Jane Austen - and in the most positive way.
I always felt that Emma by Jane Austen was okay - not the best and not the worst in ranking. It usually hovered about 3 or 4 on my list.
Joan Aiken's re-telling is brilliant and wonderfully interesting. I love that it is so easy to read and kept me interested from the first page to the last. There was a small section in the middle that was a little "hump" I had to get over, but it was very minor. (I forget what was happening at that point...)
Although I'm not sure if this story made me like Jane a little more and Emma less (possibly), but it did give me a much more clear understanding of Jane Austen's novel. I think reading these books back to back would be a fantastic idea.
I am so impressed by this novel that I'm anxious to read Mansfield Revisited. I can't decide whether to read it now (since I just watched both tv/movie adaptations of Mansfield Park) or to put it aside until next year and have something to look forward to.
Not only is the dust jacket charming, but the story inside is equally so. Highly recommended!
I always felt that Emma by Jane Austen was okay - not the best and not the worst in ranking. It usually hovered about 3 or 4 on my list.
Joan Aiken's re-telling is brilliant and wonderfully interesting. I love that it is so easy to read and kept me interested from the first page to the last. There was a small section in the middle that was a little "hump" I had to get over, but it was very minor. (I forget what was happening at that point...)
Although I'm not sure if this story made me like Jane a little more and Emma less (possibly), but it did give me a much more clear understanding of Jane Austen's novel. I think reading these books back to back would be a fantastic idea.
I am so impressed by this novel that I'm anxious to read Mansfield Revisited. I can't decide whether to read it now (since I just watched both tv/movie adaptations of Mansfield Park) or to put it aside until next year and have something to look forward to.
Not only is the dust jacket charming, but the story inside is equally so. Highly recommended!
May 11, 2019
I have been so surprised to discover that none of my Jane-Austen-Fan-Friends have not read this book yet (as of this review)?! Like me it doesn't seem like many of us even knew these books existed...or we would have read them much sooner! ;)
Anyone who has read Jane Austen's Emma will be thrilled and enamored with finally being able to hear the whole story from Jane's perspective! From the time they were children, Emma and Jane have known one another, but their lives must take very decidedly different roads. As Jane leaves her beloved aunt and grandmother at Highbury for the home of Colonel Cambell and his family, Jane's story unfolds as Austen never fully shared in her own writings. What happened to poor Jane after she left Highbury as a child? What were her growing up years like? What of Weymouth and the fabled “Mr. Dixon”? And what were Jane's real thoughts and feelings as the intrigue and hidden engagement with Frank Churchill took place once more in Highbury? All these questions and more are answered in a beautifully written Austen-style story, neatly filling in the gaps perfectly. Austen fans will be delighted...it's like getting a new Jane Austen book!!
I could easily quote my favorite passages along while reading this story. It was perfectly balanced, with no more or less of the plot from the original Emma story than needed to be shared from Jane's perspective. I fell in love with the characters afresh, and this (one of my lesser favorite Austen novels) has quickly become a new favorite and Jane my “new” favorite heroine. I finished this very quickly and could hardly bare to put it down!
Anyone who has read Jane Austen's Emma will be thrilled and enamored with finally being able to hear the whole story from Jane's perspective! From the time they were children, Emma and Jane have known one another, but their lives must take very decidedly different roads. As Jane leaves her beloved aunt and grandmother at Highbury for the home of Colonel Cambell and his family, Jane's story unfolds as Austen never fully shared in her own writings. What happened to poor Jane after she left Highbury as a child? What were her growing up years like? What of Weymouth and the fabled “Mr. Dixon”? And what were Jane's real thoughts and feelings as the intrigue and hidden engagement with Frank Churchill took place once more in Highbury? All these questions and more are answered in a beautifully written Austen-style story, neatly filling in the gaps perfectly. Austen fans will be delighted...it's like getting a new Jane Austen book!!
I could easily quote my favorite passages along while reading this story. It was perfectly balanced, with no more or less of the plot from the original Emma story than needed to be shared from Jane's perspective. I fell in love with the characters afresh, and this (one of my lesser favorite Austen novels) has quickly become a new favorite and Jane my “new” favorite heroine. I finished this very quickly and could hardly bare to put it down!
October 3, 2024
“All the fairy-tales tell us that if we utter our wish aloud, the bad Fates will intervene to prevent its being granted.”
Have you ever wondered who exactly the mystery woman in Jane Austen’s Emma was? What was her backstory, the bare bones of which Austen deigned to reveal to us while our focus was almost wholly on the deluded Miss Woodhouse?
Wonder no more, for Joan Aiken’s novel gives us Jane Fairfax’s story, one which effectively runs parallel with that of Emma Woodhouse. In this companion to Emma the spare biographical framework to Jane’s career which Austen offered us is strengthened, clothed and suitably realigned.
In Aiken’s rendition Jane is clearly presented as a sensitive foil to Emma, the latter a character whom Austen herself described as “a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.” Unsurprisingly we’re not given much cause here to question that particular appraisal; but is Jane the embodiment of all that Emma is not?
“Look at you and look at myself, Miss Fairfax; our fortunes are alike in this, that we were both suddenly displaced from the course allotted to us and set elsewhere; we are a kind of companions in unexpected circumstances, are we not?”
Where Mansfield Revisited was a straightforward sequel to Austen’s Mansfield Park, the end result of Jane Fairfax, subtitled as “a novel to complement Emma“, is not in doubt: we know where Jane’s matrimonial prospects lie. What we don’t know is exactly how Jane fared when she went as a child from the Bates household in Highbury to London to stay as a companion to the daughter of the Campbells. Austen gives us many hints of course but exactly how Jane interacted with the Campbells, the Churchills and the Dixons we’re left to guess.
This novel therefore fills in those details in a manner I found not only convincing but also engaging. In contrast to Emma which, apart from a disastrous excursion to Box Hill, remains very parochial in its setting, Jane Fairfax visits those places that were only, as it were, ‘offstage’ in Austen’s original – London for the most part, Weymouth in particular, the West Indies in passing – demonstrating how Jane’s foster family, acquaintances and experiences form her character in contrast to the sheltered upbringing of Emma Woodhouse. It’s only the last third of Aiken’s complementary novel that effectively overlaps the events in Emma, and then the twists become more evident and clarified because, for the most part, we see them from Jane’s point of view.
In Aiken’s hands Jane Fairfax wears the raiment of an Austenesque protagonist perfectly: sensitive, conscious that her straitened position and social status do not give her many life options other than work as a governess or a hopefully suitable offer of marriage, Miss Fairfax echoed Austen’s own situation as a spinster in an all-female household with relatively parlous finances after the death of the clerical breadwinner.
Aiken’s protagonist, like many Austen heroines, also seeks a friend who doubles as a confidante: when the young Emma is dismissive Rachel, the Campbells’ daughter, proves a worthy replacement and companion in the face of adversity, albeit unconscious of her future role as a rival in love. Still, Jane’s consolation was her musicality, her pianistic facility paralleling Austen’s own, aspects which will have appealed to Aiken – who regularly featured musical performances and compositions as key motifs in her own fiction – and thus gives our heroine comfort when adversity and setbacks wrongfoot and depress her.
As a novel Jane Fairfax turns out to be the perfect companion to Emma, the story we never knew we needed to counteract the frustrations we might have felt when reading of the silly antics Miss Woodhouse indulged in. True, there are many of what her aunt Miss Bates calls “dismals” awaiting Jane in these pages, and there are several awkward chats to be had instead of the “comfortable cozes” that we hear of taking place in Mansfield Park.
Typical of these uncomfortable cozes are those which Jane, consumed with jealousy and anxiety, has with Frank Churchill as they endeavour to conceal their secret engagement: ‘… when he did succeed in a short private meeting it was only, more often than not, to receive cold words, reproaches, almost hostility.’ But Jane, whose heart is ‘accustomed to disappointment’, who doesn’t speak her wishes aloud so as not to tempt the Fates, becomes terribly unhappy at keeping secrets, seriously considering becoming a governess despite her own unfortunate experiences growing up under the tutelage of a Miss Winstable and a Mrs Consett.
If Emma was a comedy of errors, should we view Jane Fairfax as its counterpart, a tragedy of secrets, denials and misunderstandings? Aiken keeps us guessing till the end; I like to think that Austen would not only have approved but would have written something like this if she’d been so minded.
January 2, 2017
I struggled to get myself totally interested in this book, Jane Fairfax, and have also struggled to figure out why. This is a well written book, and the character of Jane Fairfax is fairly complex and interesting. I enjoyed the writing and the character. So, why did I keep putting off reading this book when it has been on my TBR pile for years?
Emma is one of my favorite Jane Austen stories and I always found the character of Emma to be so agreeably flawed. You just see her rushing pell-mell into one mess after another. She is so obviously wrong about so many things and is adamant she is right. The biggest thing she is wrong about is Jane Fairfax. Jane is everything Emma is not - hard working, talented, beautiful, admired by all, a considerate friend and family member. It is no wonder Emma dislikes her so much; she is so close to perfection. I wonder if this isn't what kept me from reading her story. How could someone so perfect be anything but boring?
But, Jane Fairfax is not boring. She is actually quite courageous and a very good friend. As a poor girl without any prospects, poor Jane faces a life of servitude. At least she has people who will help her become educated so she may become a governess worthy of being hired by a good family. Jane dreads this. Who would look forward to raising someone else's children and being a servant after living the life of a beloved almost daughter to Colonel and Mrs. Campbell? Who would want to give up her friendship with Rachel who has almost become like a sister to her? Jane has no future as anything but a governess as she has no dowry or societal connections, so she must find employment. But, what Jane doesn't realize is no one else really wants her to become a governess either. They want Jane to find love and marriage and they are putting off as long as possible the time for her to find a job. Jane is loved by the Campbell family and her Aunt Hetty and Grandmama. They all wish her well.
So, Jane is now sort of stuck in a world where she is floating without a real place. She doesn't belong in the society of the Campbell family and she can't live in Highbury for ever without some income. Who would blame her for dreaming of love and marriage with first a man from her childhood, then the man who is the love of her best friend, and then finally, the young man she has barely noticed as he has been falling in love with her? She is heading home for a visit to her Aunt and Grandmother at Highbury and her life is so up in the air and her future is not defined. Can anyone blame her for accepting a secret engagement?
Jane Fairfax allows us to meet and know Jane as she was from childhood and what her experiences were prior to the action of the book Emma. We also see Jane as she views the world from the other side of Emma's matchmaking schemes and theorizing about the lives of those around her. In Emma we see how Miss Woodhouse views Jane Fairfax, but in this title, we see how Emma is viewed, and disliked, by Jane. See? Jane isn't really all that perfect and she is perfectly aware of what Emma is doing. In addition, she is very uncomfortable keeping her secret from all of her family and friends, and Frank's antics with Emma do not help make life any easier.
I still like Emma, but Jane Fairfax is a fascinating view of the other side and provides the perspective of someone who cannot find Emma amusing. This is very well written and I think JA would approve. Definitely recommended. It should be noted, however, that this book is not available as an ebook.
Emma is one of my favorite Jane Austen stories and I always found the character of Emma to be so agreeably flawed. You just see her rushing pell-mell into one mess after another. She is so obviously wrong about so many things and is adamant she is right. The biggest thing she is wrong about is Jane Fairfax. Jane is everything Emma is not - hard working, talented, beautiful, admired by all, a considerate friend and family member. It is no wonder Emma dislikes her so much; she is so close to perfection. I wonder if this isn't what kept me from reading her story. How could someone so perfect be anything but boring?
But, Jane Fairfax is not boring. She is actually quite courageous and a very good friend. As a poor girl without any prospects, poor Jane faces a life of servitude. At least she has people who will help her become educated so she may become a governess worthy of being hired by a good family. Jane dreads this. Who would look forward to raising someone else's children and being a servant after living the life of a beloved almost daughter to Colonel and Mrs. Campbell? Who would want to give up her friendship with Rachel who has almost become like a sister to her? Jane has no future as anything but a governess as she has no dowry or societal connections, so she must find employment. But, what Jane doesn't realize is no one else really wants her to become a governess either. They want Jane to find love and marriage and they are putting off as long as possible the time for her to find a job. Jane is loved by the Campbell family and her Aunt Hetty and Grandmama. They all wish her well.
So, Jane is now sort of stuck in a world where she is floating without a real place. She doesn't belong in the society of the Campbell family and she can't live in Highbury for ever without some income. Who would blame her for dreaming of love and marriage with first a man from her childhood, then the man who is the love of her best friend, and then finally, the young man she has barely noticed as he has been falling in love with her? She is heading home for a visit to her Aunt and Grandmother at Highbury and her life is so up in the air and her future is not defined. Can anyone blame her for accepting a secret engagement?
Jane Fairfax allows us to meet and know Jane as she was from childhood and what her experiences were prior to the action of the book Emma. We also see Jane as she views the world from the other side of Emma's matchmaking schemes and theorizing about the lives of those around her. In Emma we see how Miss Woodhouse views Jane Fairfax, but in this title, we see how Emma is viewed, and disliked, by Jane. See? Jane isn't really all that perfect and she is perfectly aware of what Emma is doing. In addition, she is very uncomfortable keeping her secret from all of her family and friends, and Frank's antics with Emma do not help make life any easier.
I still like Emma, but Jane Fairfax is a fascinating view of the other side and provides the perspective of someone who cannot find Emma amusing. This is very well written and I think JA would approve. Definitely recommended. It should be noted, however, that this book is not available as an ebook.
June 13, 2014
This book is a rendition of Jane Austen's, Emma, seen from the viewpoint of Jane Fairfax. I had every intention of loving it, but can only say that I liked it. Aiken tried very hard to stick with the style of writing that Jane Austen used. For the most part she did well, but there were moments of irritation. I feel that her focus was off quite a bit as well. She spent far too much time narrating Jane's childhood and not enough time on the romance between Jane and Frank Churchill. I found it strange that with all the time they spent together in Weymouth, there was no confession of attraction or love until the very day Jane returned to Highbury. Even then, it wasn't all that glorious because Jane, apparently, didn't even have feelings for Frank. This just doesn't sit well with me. Frank was always in the background in Weymouth, when he ought to have been at the forefront. The main reason why I checked this book out was I wanted to read all the sappy details about Jane and Frank, and I was disappointed. :(
April 30, 2024
Normaal rate ik geen boeken voor school meer maar vr deze wel omdat ik echt van het verhaal genoot
August 23, 2016
Someone needs to hand this book to a soap opera TV show producer...it would make a perfect script for one of their shows.
Wow. I was in turns incredulous at and disgusted by this extremely shallow, sensational, insipid Jane Austen copy. There were times that I felt like laughing at the absurdity of it all.
I will say that the first few chapters were very promising and I was settling in to what I thought would be a first-rate story. Then it quickly disintegrated into insanity. At the end I could not care less what happened to the characters and just decided to finish it because I had gotten so far and it's not a hard read. I was also curious how the author would entwine her story with the original Emma.
Definitely not my type of book, I guess.
Oh, one positive remark I have to make - the cover IS beautiful.
Wow. I was in turns incredulous at and disgusted by this extremely shallow, sensational, insipid Jane Austen copy. There were times that I felt like laughing at the absurdity of it all.
I will say that the first few chapters were very promising and I was settling in to what I thought would be a first-rate story. Then it quickly disintegrated into insanity. At the end I could not care less what happened to the characters and just decided to finish it because I had gotten so far and it's not a hard read. I was also curious how the author would entwine her story with the original Emma.
Definitely not my type of book, I guess.
Oh, one positive remark I have to make - the cover IS beautiful.
May 30, 2013
The first half of the book is delightful, with fine character development, great drama and an engaging heroine. Emma is a little too evil, but that’s Emma from Jane’s point of view, so it makes sense. Also, it’s a good thing that Aiken tells Jane’s story outside Highbury, instead of just rewriting Austen’s novel. Unfortunately, the second half is atrocious. Jane is messed up and everything is ruined. The relationship between Jane and Frank is never developed, and her reason for marrying him is very disappointing.
August 18, 2021
I gather from reading reviews that how much one will like this depends a lot on how deeply immersed one is with Emma and whether it agrees with one's own interpretation. I read Emma for the first time last summer, and found Jane Fairfax a sort of mystery character, so I was curious to read it. I had no particular expectations, even thought I might very well end up tossing it after a couple of chapters, so I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. It all seemed about right (to me, anyway.)
June 10, 2022
Have you ever seen a romantic movie where the actors who were supposed to be in love have absolutely no chemistry? That was this story. Jane has a crush on Mr. Knightly and one other guy but with Frank Churchill, I just didn't get it. No warm fuzzies, no passion, no fun.
whomp-whomp
S-L-O-W. I kept reading because I knew these characters and wanted to see if there were any surprises (there weren't). I gave it 3 stars because I was able to finish it without thought to dnf-ing it.
whomp-whomp
S-L-O-W. I kept reading because I knew these characters and wanted to see if there were any surprises (there weren't). I gave it 3 stars because I was able to finish it without thought to dnf-ing it.
July 17, 2022
This was really enjoyable! I especially enjoyed the sections that imagine Jane’s life with the Campbells.
September 10, 2023
Il retelling di Emma che ho sempre voluto leggere. Non che sia al 100% soddisfatta da questo romanzo, ma, essendo Emma scritto dal punto di vista della sua protagonista - che non sempre è il top della simpatia e anche un pochino classista, a dire il vero - ho sempre pensato che la storia raccontata dal punto di vista di Jane Fairfax dovesse essere ben diversa. Perché, se a qualcuno Jane Fairfax risulta antipatica e riservata, è solo a causa di Emma, che, ammettiamolo, ha molti più difetti di lei, tra cui l'invidia per una ragazza più intelligente e più dotata, che però non può essere motivo di invidia, dal momento che è talmente meno agiata di lei che fin dall'infanzia sa che probabilmente diventerà un'istitutrice per ragazzini ricchi e viziati.
Ma Emma è gelosa della madre che, malata com'è, preferisce ascoltare la musica suonata da Jane e non sopporta molto le esecuzioni scolastiche di Emma. Figurarsi a che livello arriva l'invidia della bambina quando la madre muore e lascia a Jane cento sterline per continuare gli studi! Emma sa di non aver bisogno di soldi, quando può avere tutto quello che vuole, ma non può evitare di invidiare quella povera ragazzina che per tutta la vita ha indossato gli abiti smessi suoi e di sua sorella Isabella.
Quando Jane viene accolta a Londra dai Campbell - e, in effetti, è allora che dovrebbe essere invidiosa di lei - Emma continua a essere la reginetta di Highbury, non rendendosi conto che c'è un mondo immenso al di là del suo paesino di tre o quattro famiglie, mentre Jane matura, continua le lezioni di piano, ma impara anche lingue e viaggia all'estero con i suoi benefattori e la sua amica/sorella Rachel.
Una volta cresciute, le due ragazze cominciano a incontrare giovanotti interessanti, in particolare Matt e Sam Dixon e Frank Churchill. Rachel ha fin da subito un debole per Matt Dixon, il problema è che, a parte la sua innata timidezza - esacerbata dal trattamento troppo severo del padre - Rachel non è molto graziosa, al contrario di Jane.
Così, quando si recano tutti a Weymouth per le vacanze estive, Rachel deve vedere Matt che corteggia e quasi fa una proposta di matrimonio a quella civetta di sua cugina Charlotte Selsea, che colleziona proposte di matrimonio come se fossero ventagli. Allo stesso tempo, quando qualcuno mette in giro la voce che Jane riceverà dal colonnello Campbell la stessa dote di Rachel, le proposte di matrimonio fioccano, e, dopo aver quasi fatto una proposta a Charlotte, Matt la fa anche a Jane, perché deve ripagare un debito di gioco. Ma Jane non potrebbe mai accettare, sapendo che Rachel è innamorata di lui e che Matt mira solo alla sua presunta dote. Tuttavia, lo fa con grandissima riluttanza, perché sente di provare qualcosa per lui.
Matt è costretto dunque a fare una proposta di matrimonio a Rachel non solo per via del debito di gioco, ma soprattutto perché suo fratello Sam, che è malato e si sta spegnendo pian piano, è innamorato di lei e gli chiede di sposarla al suo posto.
Quando tutti partono per l'Irlanda, Jane sente che le stanno portando via un pezzo di cuore, e, con grande rammarico, si prepara a tornare a Highbury. Ma prima viene inaspettatamente consolata da Frank Churchill, che le rivela di aver compreso del suo debole per Matt Dixon e le fa una proposta di matrimonio disinteressata - Frank sa che Jane non riceverà alcuna dote dai Campbell - rivelandole di essere davvero innamorato di lei. Purtroppo, dovranno mantenere il fidanzamento segreto a causa della zia di Frank, che vorrebbe per lui una donna più ricca e di ceto sociale superiore.
Inizia così il periodo che tutti conosciamo tramite la lettura di Emma, tuttavia Aiken tratta questa parte del romanzo in modo molto superficiale e rapido, forse perché non vuole andare ad alterare la percezione della storia che ogni lettore conosce. È un periodo di grande frustrazione per Jane, che è una ragazza onesta e leale e che non si capacita di dover fare qualcosa di nascosto, al contrario di Frank, che sembra felicissimo di recitare e anche di mettere il coltello della piaga nominando spesso, insieme a Emma, Mr. Dixon (anche se, a ripensarci, è forse un modo di lanciare frecciatine gelose a Jane - al principio la meno innamorata dei due - per aver provato effettivamente dei sentimenti verso Matt). Insomma, forse proprio grazie alla segretezza e a questo ambiguo tentativo di farla ingelosire flirtando con Miss Woodhouse, Frank riesce a far innamorare di sé un'indecisa Jane Fairfax (e non vi ho neanche parlato della sua cotta adolescenziale per Mr. Knightley, che prende come pietra di paragone rispetto a Frank, che ai suoi occhi è sempre inferiore, persino quando ormai il loro fidanzamento è alla luce del giorno e Jane dichiara di essere innamorata di lui!).
Ma Emma è gelosa della madre che, malata com'è, preferisce ascoltare la musica suonata da Jane e non sopporta molto le esecuzioni scolastiche di Emma. Figurarsi a che livello arriva l'invidia della bambina quando la madre muore e lascia a Jane cento sterline per continuare gli studi! Emma sa di non aver bisogno di soldi, quando può avere tutto quello che vuole, ma non può evitare di invidiare quella povera ragazzina che per tutta la vita ha indossato gli abiti smessi suoi e di sua sorella Isabella.
Quando Jane viene accolta a Londra dai Campbell - e, in effetti, è allora che dovrebbe essere invidiosa di lei - Emma continua a essere la reginetta di Highbury, non rendendosi conto che c'è un mondo immenso al di là del suo paesino di tre o quattro famiglie, mentre Jane matura, continua le lezioni di piano, ma impara anche lingue e viaggia all'estero con i suoi benefattori e la sua amica/sorella Rachel.
Una volta cresciute, le due ragazze cominciano a incontrare giovanotti interessanti, in particolare Matt e Sam Dixon e Frank Churchill. Rachel ha fin da subito un debole per Matt Dixon, il problema è che, a parte la sua innata timidezza - esacerbata dal trattamento troppo severo del padre - Rachel non è molto graziosa, al contrario di Jane.
Così, quando si recano tutti a Weymouth per le vacanze estive, Rachel deve vedere Matt che corteggia e quasi fa una proposta di matrimonio a quella civetta di sua cugina Charlotte Selsea, che colleziona proposte di matrimonio come se fossero ventagli. Allo stesso tempo, quando qualcuno mette in giro la voce che Jane riceverà dal colonnello Campbell la stessa dote di Rachel, le proposte di matrimonio fioccano, e, dopo aver quasi fatto una proposta a Charlotte, Matt la fa anche a Jane, perché deve ripagare un debito di gioco. Ma Jane non potrebbe mai accettare, sapendo che Rachel è innamorata di lui e che Matt mira solo alla sua presunta dote. Tuttavia, lo fa con grandissima riluttanza, perché sente di provare qualcosa per lui.
Matt è costretto dunque a fare una proposta di matrimonio a Rachel non solo per via del debito di gioco, ma soprattutto perché suo fratello Sam, che è malato e si sta spegnendo pian piano, è innamorato di lei e gli chiede di sposarla al suo posto.
Quando tutti partono per l'Irlanda, Jane sente che le stanno portando via un pezzo di cuore, e, con grande rammarico, si prepara a tornare a Highbury. Ma prima viene inaspettatamente consolata da Frank Churchill, che le rivela di aver compreso del suo debole per Matt Dixon e le fa una proposta di matrimonio disinteressata - Frank sa che Jane non riceverà alcuna dote dai Campbell - rivelandole di essere davvero innamorato di lei. Purtroppo, dovranno mantenere il fidanzamento segreto a causa della zia di Frank, che vorrebbe per lui una donna più ricca e di ceto sociale superiore.
Inizia così il periodo che tutti conosciamo tramite la lettura di Emma, tuttavia Aiken tratta questa parte del romanzo in modo molto superficiale e rapido, forse perché non vuole andare ad alterare la percezione della storia che ogni lettore conosce. È un periodo di grande frustrazione per Jane, che è una ragazza onesta e leale e che non si capacita di dover fare qualcosa di nascosto, al contrario di Frank, che sembra felicissimo di recitare e anche di mettere il coltello della piaga nominando spesso, insieme a Emma, Mr. Dixon (anche se, a ripensarci, è forse un modo di lanciare frecciatine gelose a Jane - al principio la meno innamorata dei due - per aver provato effettivamente dei sentimenti verso Matt). Insomma, forse proprio grazie alla segretezza e a questo ambiguo tentativo di farla ingelosire flirtando con Miss Woodhouse, Frank riesce a far innamorare di sé un'indecisa Jane Fairfax (e non vi ho neanche parlato della sua cotta adolescenziale per Mr. Knightley, che prende come pietra di paragone rispetto a Frank, che ai suoi occhi è sempre inferiore, persino quando ormai il loro fidanzamento è alla luce del giorno e Jane dichiara di essere innamorata di lui!).
July 8, 2018
I CAN'T BELIEVE I READ THIS ENTIRE BOOK IN LIKE 6 HOURS BUT MOM HOLY FUCK………I LOVED IT???????? Jane Fairfax origin story revolving around how being so similar to Emma yet driven apart by class is the real reason for their rivalry on both sides……like……holy shit…………
This was just genuinely great from start to finish, I loved the fleshing out of the Campbells, I loved the explanation of how being raised in high society affected Jane's perception and enjoyment of Highbury, I loved the additions of travel and the war and death and real life random unfortunate consequences on top of the typical period romance. Though I still don't enjoy love triangle situations, working in a genuine crush on Mr. Dixon that could not work out for more reasons than Emma suspected was very well done, and it was fun to recognize the tiny portions of dialogue from the original book at significant moments!
My one reason for docking a star was that because of the aforementioned Mr. Dixon plot, I felt Frank's character in the Weymouth portion was not featured enough before the proposal; I still didn't have a totally clear sense of him as a person before he was pretending to be someone else. I felt working more modern perceptions of romance here might actually have helped more than relying on the Regency-appropriate ones and made the reader more strongly inclined towards him to offset how much Jane hated the situation. As much as I like the idea of them trying to court AFTER getting engaged (this is like, a top-tier fanfic trope, god) I felt trying to balance that with Jane's discomfort didn't work out for me as a reader--it would've been a stronger bolster to the romance if either she liked Frank enough to go against her judgment re: the engagement BEFORE both were in Highbury, or if in Highbury her distress (at least at the beginning) was more feigned than genuine to play her part like Frank played his.
NONETHELESS, THIS IS AN ENTIRE NOVEL WRITTEN IN JANE AUSTEN STYLE, THAT MADE ME LOVE JANE FAIRFAX AND EMMA ALREADY 349857398456378 TIMES MORE, AND THAT I ALREADY WANT TO READ AGAIN!?!?! BOY…
This was just genuinely great from start to finish, I loved the fleshing out of the Campbells, I loved the explanation of how being raised in high society affected Jane's perception and enjoyment of Highbury, I loved the additions of travel and the war and death and real life random unfortunate consequences on top of the typical period romance. Though I still don't enjoy love triangle situations, working in a genuine crush on Mr. Dixon that could not work out for more reasons than Emma suspected was very well done, and it was fun to recognize the tiny portions of dialogue from the original book at significant moments!
My one reason for docking a star was that because of the aforementioned Mr. Dixon plot, I felt Frank's character in the Weymouth portion was not featured enough before the proposal; I still didn't have a totally clear sense of him as a person before he was pretending to be someone else. I felt working more modern perceptions of romance here might actually have helped more than relying on the Regency-appropriate ones and made the reader more strongly inclined towards him to offset how much Jane hated the situation. As much as I like the idea of them trying to court AFTER getting engaged (this is like, a top-tier fanfic trope, god) I felt trying to balance that with Jane's discomfort didn't work out for me as a reader--it would've been a stronger bolster to the romance if either she liked Frank enough to go against her judgment re: the engagement BEFORE both were in Highbury, or if in Highbury her distress (at least at the beginning) was more feigned than genuine to play her part like Frank played his.
NONETHELESS, THIS IS AN ENTIRE NOVEL WRITTEN IN JANE AUSTEN STYLE, THAT MADE ME LOVE JANE FAIRFAX AND EMMA ALREADY 349857398456378 TIMES MORE, AND THAT I ALREADY WANT TO READ AGAIN!?!?! BOY…
July 23, 2021
I don't love Emma (the book or the character), so I thought this was a perfectly fine retelling. If you do love Emma, you may feel differently.
August 5, 2015
Remember that intriguing, original story that Jane Austen wrote about the redemption of a spoiled snob? Some one who won the sympathies of many readers--even in the modern audience--and decided to use her resources to be a better person? Well, let's take all that's interesting in that story and suck it out to make something cliched, judgementally dull, and too revisionist for *this* Austen fangirl.
First,
If you like simply being in the Austeniverse and the integrity of characters and ingenuity of plot are dispensable, then sure, this could be enjoyable. Pax!
First,
If you like simply being in the Austeniverse and the integrity of characters and ingenuity of plot are dispensable, then sure, this could be enjoyable. Pax!
avoid
March 27, 2019NTS: See Melindam's review for reason to avoid this book.
December 26, 2023
I loved the scenes with Jane and Emma as children. I must say, this is definitely a reading of Emma as a fairly unlikeable character, which I suppose is fair enough as this is from Jane’s perspective. I’m not usually wild about Austen variations or sequels, but I thought that Aiken did something really interesting with this “companion novel”. Jane is such a cypher in EMMA that it’s a treat to see the same events through her eyes. I was a bit irritated at first with Aiken’s treatment of the whole Mr Dixon subplot—I expected Frank to be the golden child he appears in EMMA—but in the end I appreciated her choices. My only disappointment was Mr K, who comes across as a bit more of a grumpy old man than I wanted. I really liked her choice to make the relationship between Jane and Emma the central motif of the novel, rather than the romance—it’s a choice that pays off in a book that feels far more literary and surprising than most Jane Austen continuations. Also, Aiken writes Regency very well.
December 13, 2012
The concept for this book is a great one - tell Jane Fairfax's story, all that we missed in Emma. The beginning, while she's a child in Highbury is charming, and seeing Emma and the other characters through different eyes is very interesting. The prose is well done, it's nicely Austenesque, and reads well. We really feel for Jane in her mixed status as one of the Campbell family, but not fully one of them, with – to paraphrase Dickens – no great expectations, despite all her accomplishments, integrity and intelligence.
Though we all know the story is leading up to how she became engaged and is finally able to marry Mr. Frank Churchill, Frank isn't much of a character and we still don't end up seeing their relationship develop. He waits patiently on the slide line, and she eventually accepts his affections, which is not very satisfying.
Though we all know the story is leading up to how she became engaged and is finally able to marry Mr. Frank Churchill, Frank isn't much of a character and we still don't end up seeing their relationship develop. He waits patiently on the slide line, and she eventually accepts his affections, which is not very satisfying.
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