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

The narrator, Emma M. Lion, arrives in London, England, after a three-year absence and travels to her home, Lapis Lazuli House, which her cousin Archibald Flat, according to the terms of her guardianship, is currently in charge of. Archibald isn’t present, and Emma is received by his disapproving butler, Parian, and a new cook, Agnes. 

To her dismay, Emma learns that she has been moved from her former rooms on the third floor to the dusty garret on the fifth. She suspects that this is punishment for a past event she calls “The Incident which led to The Scar” (2). Despite the poor state of the garret room, which is smaller than it should be because Archibald has walled off a section of the house to rent, Emma resolves to make the best of the situation. After finding a bed and a copy of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, she plans to have new calling cards printed.

Parian informs Emma that she will be taking all her meals on a tray in the garret, a restriction that Emma sees as a welcome escape from Archibald.