I have read the fragment that Charlotte Brontë had begun writing before her sad early death and thought it a great shame that this work remained unfinished. I'm glad that over 100 years later 'Another Lady' came along and found the inspiration to write a full novel based on what little details Miss Brontë left behind.

The character of Emma is an elusive one. She causes great heartache for Arminel - the likeable female narrator - who becomes Emma's stepmother. Emma's influence over her three brothers are great when they are children. She leads them to their grandparents' house before their father arrives home with his new bride and persuades them never to enter the house so long as their then seventeen-year-old stepmother is indoors. Sadly for Arminel, her husband does not support her as he should and allows his children - or more specifically Emma - their own way.

Arminel recalls events from her years spent with her much older husband alongside another tale. A girl of nine is deposited by her father at a school. She is believed to be an heiress, but as time passes and the father does not reappear, suspicions arise concerning the young girl's identity. Is she really an heiress? Is Matilda Fiztgibbon her real name? Why is she reluctant to answer questions about herself and her background? Why does she seem afraid and withdrawn? Questions such as these form the backbone of this tale and the answers don't come easy.

Arminel takes the girl into her own home when the owners of the school insist she leave their establishment, believing her to be a fraud. After all, the girl's father has not returned and the daughter has cost the school money.

As a Brontë fan I was skeptical whether 'Another Lady' could do Charlotte's idea justice. Although I found the first half of the book a little slow paced at times, it didn't fail to hold my interest. Some short-sentenced dialogue exchanges would probably enlivened several scenes. There were also three quoted poems which struck me as pointless inclusions and insignificant to the story.

From the halfway point onwards the narrative becomes evermore engaging. I grew to care more and more about Arminel and the young girl, plus my interest in the elusive Emma continued to build with the narrative.

Although this author's style is not in the same league as Charlotte's, I for one am grateful for her efforts, as I enjoyed this book and its main characters. ( )

I was perusing a library booksale when a book sporting a familiar title and author caught my eye. Only, the combination of the title and author perplexed me. I'm a big fan of Jane Austen's Emma, but had no idea that Charlotte Brontë wrote a book with the same title! Upon studying the back cover, I learned that this was one of those unfinished works completed by that coy nom de plume, "Another Lady." What the back cover didn't tell me, however, was that Brontë only wrote two rough chapters of Emma before she died. "Another Lady" — whom Google has revealed to be one Constance Savery — concocted the rest of the tale from the hints of those two chapters. I'm torn between admiration for the magnitude of such an undertaking and disappointment in the lackluster result.

By all rights, I should have liked this book. It's a Gothic-y mystery with moors (well, a little), abductions, secrets, and coincidences worthy of a true 19th-century novel. But the plot is rather predictable... even I guessed what would happen, and that's never a good sign. The characters are fairly flat, and the whole thing just feels forced. I didn't hate the book, but I was glad that it was slim. I'd be done with it quickly.

Like Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, the story bears the name of its villainess, who overshadows everything with her malice despite having very little "screen time." But Emma is an infinitely weaker book. Emma is evil, sure, but why? How did she get that way? Rebecca's natural bent for evil is intensified by Danvers' indulgent, worshipful upbringing. No such explanation is given for Emma's personality. Even that would be all right if Emma just had a believable motive for hating her stepmother, Mrs. Chalfont. Emma never meets Mrs. Chalfont at all — in fact, she runs off with her brothers the day of the wedding and they move in with their grandparents so as to never meet their stepmother, out of apparent hatred. But why? It wasn't as if Emma was devoted to her father and was jealous of the new wife... It just doesn't make sense.

There are other weak characterizations; Guy and Laurence Chalfont come to mind especially. Martina, whose parentage is the mystery of the tale, is rather too precious at times. I found Mr. Ellin too nice, too convenient to be really three-dimensional. Only Mrs. Chalfont, who (true to Brontë's style) narrates the story, is marginally more interesting and believable than the others. The chapters with Mrs. Chalfont observing Martina are very reminiscent of Lucy Snowe with Paulina in Villette.

No doubt Emma suffers from being compared to Brontë's other works, but even without that comparison I don't think I would have liked it. I'm glad I read the book to know about it for myself, but I don't think I will ever reread. I would recommend this to Brontë completists only — and maybe not even you, as this is much more Savery than Brontë. ( )

I found this on accident thinking I was checking out Jane Austen's Emma. I was surprised to find I enjoyed it. It's a little mystery story. ( )