In Volume 6 of the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Emma rings in the new year with a positive attitude and new opportunities on the horizon. Of course, this does not guarantee smooth sailing, and there are plenty of unexpected adventures in store for her.
On the positive side, Emma turned 21 in January, meaning that she can legally own her own home, Lapis Lazuli, outright. And technically, she does not require a chaperone anymore. This is good news since she had been lying to her Aunt Eugenia about Agnes Dowd, her fictional chaperone, for the past year. Aunt Eugenia, however, has other ideas and swoops into Lapis Lazuli like a bat, belittling Emma’s appearance, home decorating and anything else that she observes while there, including Emma’s friends Young Hawkes and the Duke of Islington. Eugenia believes that she still can bend Emma to her will, and Emma finds that she cannot fight back much. She will still assist Aunt Eugenia and her cousin Arabella in the upcoming social season and be subjected to much sneering and condescension from her aunt and the other wealthy society matrons. The fact that the most eligible bachelor, Islington, pays attention to Emma and is her friend makes her even more of a target. After being subjected to Aunt Eugenia, Islington arranges for Emma to meet his eccentric aunt the Countess of Alwick. The Countess writes adventure novels with pirates and such, dresses in jodhpurs and likes her gin. In the course of their meeting, however, the countess reveals some family secrets that Emma suspects Islington would have preferred be kept quiet. Islington can come across as imperious and a bit judgy, but it turns out that his family life growing up was not ideal, despite having wealth and education. Emma’s curiosity is piqued but she values the friendship they have developed and will try to tread lightly with this new information.
The other big development in Volume 6 is Emma’s new job, arranged by her banker Mr. Penury. Emma begins a trial run as a personal secretary to Mrs. Whitaker, the wife of a successful, up-and-coming merchant (new wealth). Emma has always been impressed with her friends Mary and Saffronia, who have found ways to use their talents to support themselves financially. Emma feels that “personal secretary” is a job that could suit her very well. On Mondays, she goes to the Whitakers to assist Mrs. W. with her correspondence, accounts, and, unexpectedly, her young son who has just been sent down from Eton for bad behavior. Given Emma’s own upbringing and her association with the Reprobates 10, she feels that she might be able to handle young Argus, but Argus has other ideas. Some rather embarrassing, messy, and hilarious hijinks ensue. I hope that young Argus will appear in later volumes. He certainly is future Reprobate material.
Little by little, we learn more about Emma’s coterie of Islington, Hawkes, and Pierce. All three are very tight lipped about their pasts, but, as noted above, we learn about Islington having a troubled childhood, and we also learn a bit about Pierce’s nightmarish childhood experiences. Hawkes continues to be enigmatic and charming, showing up when needed and then disappearing, much in the same way the Jeeves “shimmers” in and out of Bertie Wooster’s life in the PG Wodehouse novels. The cliffhanger at the end of Volume 6 is a doozy! I think some readers have been waiting for this, but it feels a bit ominous to me.
