Published in 2019, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 is the first volume in the historical fiction series of the same name by American author Beth Brower. Presented in an epistolary format, the novel comprises the diary entries of its witty and resilient protagonist, 20-year-old Emma M. Lion. The novel’s serialized, journal-entry structure allows its central themes to develop incrementally through Emma’s daily observations and sharp-witted commentary. 

As Emma contends with her newfound poverty, the narrative explores the challenges of Female Independence and Financial Autonomy in an era when women’s legal and economic rights were severely limited. Isolated and often demoralized, Emma finds her way by Seeking Refuge in Literature, using classic works by John Milton and William Shakespeare to process injustice. The story also highlights Building Community Around Local Culture, contrasting the antagonism within Emma’s family with the protective, if peculiar, support system of her London neighborhood, St. Crispian’s.

This guide refers to the 2019 Rhysdon Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, emotional abuse, and gender discrimination.

Plot Summary

In March 1883, 20-year-old Emma M. Lion arrives in London, England, after three years of serving as a companion to her cruel cousin Matilde in Bournemouth. She moves home to Lapis Lazuli House in the eccentric neighborhood of St. Crispian’s, a home that she legally owns but is currently occupied by her guardian, her petty and hostile cousin Archibald Flat. Still resentful over a past incident that left him with a scar, Archibald relegates Emma to the dusty fifth-floor garret, banning her from her old rooms and the main dining room. 

Emma’s only comforts are the promise of a significant sum of back pay for her work with Mathilde and a regular allowance from her inheritance, neither of which Archibald seems willing to provide. Left to her own devices, Emma begins cleaning and painting her new attic rooms; her sole companion is a found copy of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. She laments the loss of her father’s extensive library, which she sold at 13 to fund an education at a preparatory school that proved to be a disastrously poor choice.

As Emma settles in, she avoids her aunt, the formidable Lady Eugenia Spencer. In a plot concocted with her kind cousin Arabella Spencer, Eugenia’s daughter, Emma has arrived in London a month earlier than she told Eugenia she would. This stolen month allows her to reacquaint herself with St. Crispian’s, a quirky neighborhood known for its backward shop signs and the ghostly Roman centurion who patrols its streets. She also reconnects with her best friend from school, Mary Bairrage, a typist for the new telephone company. Mary navigates the strictures of her boarding house with the help of a handsome actor named Jack Hollingstell, whom she has hired to pose as her cousin and chaperone. 

Emma’s peace is soon disrupted by Archibald. He tells her that she won’t be paid for the three months of work with Matilde. He accuses her of stealing Matilde’s silver—a false charge supported by a letter from his sister—and declares that he will withhold her salary until it’s returned. The next day, he confiscates her copy of Paradise Lost, claiming it as part of the library that his late wife, Emma’s great-aunt, left to him. 

The conflict escalates when Emma, desperate for funds, goes to the bank herself. There, she receives the news that Archibald has systematically squandered her entire inheritance out of spite, spending it on an extravagant wardrobe and deliberately betting on losing racehorses. She has less than £300—enough to survive for one year.

Furious and facing financial ruin, Emma confronts Archibald and seizes control of the household accounts. Their only viable plan for income is to rent out Lapis Lazuli Minor, a ridiculously narrow 10-foot sliver of the house that Archibald walled off years before. Archibald has a prospective tenant, and a desperate Emma agrees. 

Shortly after, Lady Eugenia summons Emma and outlines her role for the upcoming social season: She is to act as a “Foil” and “Spy” to help Eugenia find the perfect husband for Arabella. To ensure that Emma looks the part, her aunt provides a generous account at a dressmaker. However, she crucially misunderstands that Emma has a chaperone, a fiction that Emma allows to stand, granting her unexpected freedom. 

Emma’s spirits are lifted when Arabella delivers the trunk of her parents’ belongings, including her father’s treasured, personally illustrated volume of William Shakespeare. However, her grief is reawakened when she receives a letter from Evelyn, the brother of her childhood friend Maxwell, who informs her that his family may exhume Maxwell’s body from Afghanistan for reburial in England.

The new tenant’s arrival is preceded by an omen. Agnes, the house cook, sees the Roman in the garden, and he points to Lapis Lazuli Minor and warns, “A man of war comes to this house” (95). Soon after, a tall, imposing man with a pronounced limp moves in next door. From her garret window, Emma watches him, and later that evening, as he leaves the house, he stops under a lamppost and looks directly up at her. They share a long stare before he disappears into the rainy night. The thin wall separating their attic rooms offers little privacy, and Emma can hear his movements. A sliver of his lamplight comes through a crack in the wall near her desk.

With Archibald away on a trip to confront Matilde about the missing salary—a trip motivated only by his own financial desperation—Emma is left alone with Agnes and the new tenant. Driven by curiosity about him, she persuades Agnes to bring him a plate of biscuits as a welcome offering. A terrified Agnes complies, blurting out a rambling, nervous monologue to him about the ghost’s prophecy before fleeing. 

As her month of freedom ends, Emma receives a box of elegant calling cards from Lady Eugenia, foiled in gold and edged in sea green to match her eyes, with an embossed lion on the back. She has been summoned by her aunt to begin her duties for the social season. She feels a renewed resolve to save her home and her future, steeling herself for the social machinations and curious about the enigma of the man living on the other side of her wall.