The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1

I’ll admit, I approached *The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion* with skepticism—how many more Victorian heroines could I possibly need in my life? But Emma M. Lion isn’t your typical corseted ingenue. She’s acerbic, self-aware, and refreshingly *unlikable* in the best way, the kind of protagonist who’d roll her eyes at the term ‘plucky.’ Brower’s writing thrives in the gaps between what Emma says and what she *means*, and Genevieve Gaunt’s narration exploits those gaps masterfully. Her voice is rich with irony, dipping into a confiding whisper for Emma’s most cutting asides, then shifting to clipped, exaggerated politeness when dealing with her insufferable cousin Archibald. The effect is like listening to a one-woman show where the star is both the performer and her own heckler. That said, the audiobook isn’t without its stumbles. The pacing in the first act feels deliberately sluggish—as if Emma herself is dragging her feet—but it risks losing listeners who expect immediate spark. And while the supporting cast is vivid, a few characters (looking at you, Aunt Eugenia) teeter into caricature, their dialogue so exaggerated it occasionally undercuts the story’s sharper satire. Still, the production quality is impeccable: no jarring edits, no awkward pauses, just a seamless blend of Gaunt’s performance and Brower’s razor-edged prose. By the final chapter, I was fully invested in Emma’s battle against the absurdity of St. Crispian’s—and already resenting the wait for Volume 2.