One of my favorite books by Jane Austen is Emma. This recent novel provides a fascinating take on the character Harriet Smith while also giving a interesting twist on the character Robert Martin. The author’s attempt to intersperse this side story with the original work gives the reader an interesting view of the story.

In the original story by Jane Austen, Robert Martin is not portrayed as Jewish. However, it seems the author of this book designs Robert Martin in this way either as an additional explanation for his unacceptability in that period’s society, or to increase the reader’s awareness of the presence of Jewish people in Georgian England. I found this interesting as I had never thought about it prior to reading this book. It led me to do some research and discover some fascinating things about Jewish life during that period that opened up my perspective on this character. In fact, weaving this aspect into Harriet Smith’s story gave it more body.

This is an excellent read and I recommend it highly. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

3.5 rounded up.
This is a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma as historical fiction in the Jewish faith and Regency style. It does get a bit dull in parts, but overall was an enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

This is an interesting take on old classic and I found it rather intriguing yet at times annoying. I did manage to read the whole book but in the end it just didn't do it for me. I didn't really enjoy reading as much as I thought I would and found at times it became confusing.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for this digital copy to read and review.

Jews in Jane Austen? Sign me up!! This is Austen's Emma, told from the view point of Harriet, who falls in love with Robert Martin, (who is now a Jewish man in this novel) much to Emma's disapproval. The book is a very faithful retelling of Emma. I had forgotten that I didn't really like Emma the first time I read it, and frankly didn't like her much in this book either. Harriet's character is also kind of annoying truthfully.

I enjoyed the parts of the book where the author incorporated Jewish characters and traditions. I found the sections that tried to explain all of the relationships between the characters really confusing and wordy.

A possible fun read for an Austen fan but not sure if there is a lot of universal appeal.

This was an engaging and beautifully written Jewish regency historical romance written about the life of a young orphaned woman in a rural English town. It tells of her journey of finding out her true heritage and parentage. I enjoyed reading so much of the knowledge of the Jewish culture, history, and the ways of their faith. There were son many other important plots and interesting characters that kept me very entertained. The ending was absolutely perfect and ended happily for so many. I highly recommend reading!

I really tried to like this book, but it was based so much on religion that I feel that so much else could have been done with it. The characters were well written. The biggest problem that I felt is that it was slightly repetitive. I want to read more from this author to see what their other work is like.

Thank you Net Galley, Books go social, and Mirta Ines Trupp

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. However, of seemed like the first half was mostly just repeated or maybe paraphrased dialogue from the original novel. The plot twist of Harriet being Jewish was mostly explored in the second half of the book and only lets to the same ending as the original Emma. Overall, I found this to be a little boring

The tone of this book is too dark for me, with too much focus on religion. It also borrows too heavily from the original. I’ve read Emma multiple times—I don’t need to read entire passages of it in someone else’s work. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.