So I had already read 60 pages written by Jane (obviously) so I was looking forward to discover the action proposed by Joan Aiken. At the end, I am both fascinated and a little disappointed. Seduced because I find that the author was able to resume the themes dear to Jane: money and marriage. On the first topic, the older brother of Emma, Robert looks very much (too?) Brother Dashwood Sense and Sensibility, his wife Jane is also in all respects the same as Fanny. Idem, many things seemed borrowed me to Mansfield Park and the love story of Elizabeth right Persuasion ... There is also the tragic events that have embarrassed me ... it's weird but the death of a woman and her child do not appear to me "austeniens". Family twists Osborne / Edward also appeared to me too much ... For Penelope & Margaret, they are copied and pasted Maria Julia. Finally, heroin is in my opinion a kind of mixture of Fanny Price and Elizabeth Bennet ... I really appreciated that his love story is a little more developed, in the end, even if it is writing, I found that the novel was sorely lacking development and pages ... The story is interesting but I wish the treatment of the characters (many) is deeper
What I like: the pen is beautiful and we are in the Austen style. The character of Emma is endearing
What I like least: it lacks a little depth in the characters and some events seem to me too much. Sometimes too identifiable similarities with the characters of other novels Jane
In short: An honorable result, well written that carries his reader without problems but suffers from a lack of development