The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2

The second installment in Beth Brower's series, this novel takes the form of journal entries written by Emma M. Lion, a young woman of limited means living in the garret of Lapis Lazuli House, her family home in the eccentric London neighborhood of St. Crispian's, during the spring and summer of 1883. Orphaned, financially precarious, and fiercely independent, Emma chronicles two months of social maneuvering, unlikely friendships, and the slow work of building a future.

The volume opens in May, when Emma receives a mandate from her formidable Aunt, Lady Eugenia Spencer, to participate in the London social Season. Aunt Eugenia lays out a rigorous itinerary of teas, dinners, card parties, and balls designed to position her daughter Arabella Spencer as the most sought-after young woman in society. Emma is to serve as Arabella's social support, redirecting eligible men's attention toward her cousin while remaining as inconspicuous as possible. On an early walk, the neighborhood vicar, Young Hawkes, reveals that Emma's Cousin Archibald has been confessing Emma's sins alongside his own and discloses his awareness of the difficult financial situation Archibald has created for Emma.

Emma's domestic life centers on Lapis Lazuli House, which she owns but shares with Archibald, a vain, eccentric man who inherited no claim to the property but was allowed to stay by Emma's late father. One day, a folded note appears through two loose boards in the wall separating Emma's garret from the adjacent house, Lapis Lazuli Minor, which has been let to a tenant. The note announces they have mice. So begins a correspondence Emma compares to the wall scene between Pyramus and Thisbe in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. After exchanging notes about failed pest control, the Tenant's solution arrives: a grey tabby cat named Tybalt, after the "King of Cats" in Romeo and Juliet, left behind by a friend traveling abroad. The Tenant cuts a small cat-sized doorway in the wall so Tybalt can move between houses. The two exchange calling cards: Emma's identifies her as Emma M. Lion of Lapis Lazuli House; the Tenant's reads Niall Pierce, with "New York" crossed out and "London" written in.

Emma meets with her banker, Mr. Penury, who reveals the household's financial injustice: Agnes, Emma's maid and cook, earns two pounds per year, while Parian, the lazy butler, receives nearly 30. Mr. Penury creates a spartan budget that will sustain Emma for two years, after which she must find income. He advises her to save every penny, accept hospitality from wealthy connections, and pursue a respectable vocation.

Aunt Eugenia's social campaign brings Emma face to face with two of her four self-declared mortal enemies. Victoria Braithwaite, for whom Emma was forced to serve as companion after her parents' deaths, reappears at Aunt Eugenia's Exclusive Dinner and condescendingly recalls Emma's childhood misery until Arabella intervenes. Roland Sutherland, who tormented Emma with physical traps during childhood summers, has grown into an exceptionally handsome and charming man. He finds Emma hiding in the conservatory, compliments her transformation, and kisses her hand. Emma finds herself reluctantly intrigued. Over subsequent events, Roland reveals a deeper character, confiding that he wants a wife who truly sees him rather than his wealth and beauty. He gives Emma a copy of Shakespeare's Comedies, In Full, inscribed with her name, fulfilling an earlier wager between them.

Over tea at The Langham hotel, Arabella confronts Emma about still clinging to the memory of Maxwell Stuart, a young man Emma loved who died three years earlier at the Battle of Maiwand during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Arabella urges Emma to let Maxwell go. Emma resists, and the conversation cuts deep.

On her mother's birthday, Emma encounters Pierce at the Reed and Rite, a local coffee shop, where he is searching for a lost camera lens, an item that has "wandered" per St. Crispian's peculiar phenomenon of objects disappearing and reappearing in neighbors' homes. Pierce reveals he is a photographer whose longtime subject is war. Emma recalls a warning the neighborhood's resident ghost, known as the Roman, once gave Agnes: "A man of war comes to this house." Pierce perceives Emma's grief and asks whom she lost. When Emma mentions Maiwand, Pierce, who was present at the nearby Battle of Kandahar, offers to connect her with a colleague who may have photographs, but Emma declines, overwhelmed. Walking home, Pierce abruptly reverts to formality, insisting she remain "Miss Lion."

At the Salisbury Ball, Emma retreats to the library and encounters the Duke of Islington, a fellow St. Crispian's resident whom she finds younger than expected, around 30, with hazel eyes and composed authority. Their paths cross again when a mysterious black leather journal wanders into Emma's house. Finding no name inside, she reads it entirely and becomes enchanted by its elegant prose and keen observations about nature. When she identifies the author as the Duke of Islington, she resolves to return it in person. At his house, the butler shows her into the Rabbit Room, a chamber with a painting of a rabbit on one wall and a hound on the other, designed to intimidate visitors. The duke enters beneath the hound and is coldly furious at the invasion of his privacy. A sharp verbal sparring match ensues before he dismisses her, and Emma later realizes the room was arranged to cast her as the rabbit.

When Archibald returns to London, Emma secures fairer wages for Agnes: 17 pounds per year, with 15 for Parian. She also inserts herself as hostess at a dinner Archibald arranged with Pierce. Before the meal, Pierce presents Emma with a photograph of the Afghan landscape so she might see the beauty of the place where Maxwell died. The evening collapses into chaos when Tybalt terrifies Archibald and Agnes encounters the Roman ghost inside the house, a breach of his usual outdoor appearances. Agnes reports the ghost's words: "The man of war will end this house." Pierce, visibly shaken, searches the room. Emma downplays the prophecy, and they reaffirm their friendship over port.

Pierce departs London on business, and his absence leaves Emma's garret feeling hollow. Tybalt howls nightly at Pierce's window, inadvertently convincing Archibald he is being haunted. Meanwhile, Aunt Eugenia nearly uncovers that Emma lacks a proper chaperone when she asks to meet "Agnes," whom she assumes is a respectable middle-aged companion rather than Emma's young maid. Emma and Arabella scramble to deflect the inquiry.

Emma's friend Mary Bairrage, a fellow survivor of their grim boarding school Fortitude, sends an urgent summons. The headmistress, Mrs. Wade, has discovered and confiscated the school's contraband treasure: a first-edition, three-volume Jane Eyre secretly passed among students since 1847, each reader's name inscribed in the back. Every student whose name appears has been whipped. Mary organizes a conclave of all 13 former custodians, known as "Janes," at Lapis Lazuli House. Jack Hollingstell, Mary's mysterious associate, proposes infiltrating Fortitude disguised as Emma's husband to gain access to Mrs. Wade's office and pick the lock on The Locked Drawer where the books are held. The vote is unanimous.

Emma and Jack execute the heist successfully. On the return train, Jack drops his disguise and demands a future favor from Emma in exchange for keeping Mary safe from his dangerous world. Emma counters with two favors in exchange for Jack's protection extending to her entire circle, including Islington. They shake hands on the deal.

Pierce returns to London and proposes renting the unused salon in Lapis Lazuli House as a portrait photography studio, noting its tall windows and good light. He offers to install a door connecting the salon to Lapis Lazuli Minor so clients can enter from his side. Emma agrees, and they shake hands. The volume closes with Emma reflecting that she has struck two bargains in two days, one with Jack and one with Pierce, and wondering whether she is a great gambler or a greater fool.