Anne Taylor, governess to Emma and her older sister Isabella, is still a “governess”, sourced from the small ads in The Lady.

This version is faithful to the original in a very literal way, which causes all sorts of practical problems. If anyone could make the case that it’s possible (and advisable) to create a 21st-century rewrite of Emma, it should be McCall Smith.īut while the style lends itself well to Austen’s characters, the flaws of the project quickly emerge. There’s a natural ease and charm to his stories. He is an addictively easy-to-read writer, in the old-school serialisation style. This third one, however, has had the same effect as investing a lot of time in a DVD box set of a series that you suddenly realise you don’t want to watch.ĭisclosure: I am a fan of Alexander McCall Smith, the force of nature (44 titles published) behind The Sunday Philosophy Club and The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. I’ve stayed on board with it because Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld is coming next year and I just cannot bear to hate that. In short, I perversely enjoyed them while finding them intensely irritating.

I think it may have the opposite effect, however.) I already have a love-hate relationship with these titles, having winced and giggled my way through Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope (note the crazy ampersand) and Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid. (I am using the word “update” in an attempt to be polite and neutral. This is the third in Harper Collins’ series of Austen updates. But is there anything that can be done to make it feel less so and allow you to lose yourself in the story? It seems not. N o matter how great the writer behind “a 21st-century reimagining” of Jane Austen, it is going to feel weird.

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith