Emma by Jane Austen Retold by Gill Tavner and Real Reads

Gill Tavern and Real Reads have been retelling famous classics from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. “…fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.” Goodreads. There new book “Emma” by Jane Austen has been added to list of classical stories.

Goodreads synopsis:
Following her governess's marriage, wealthy, spoilt Emma Woodhouse seeks new company and new amusement. Ignoring the warnings of her friend Mr. Knightley, she begins a series of terrible blunders. Through letters to her sister, the author presents the reader with puzzles to confuse even the best detective. Who sent the mystery piano? Why is Mr. Elton so charming and Miss Fairfax so reserved? How many men can Harriet love? Who is hiding a shocking secret? With little understanding of her own feelings, can Emma lead anyone towards happiness? Can you solve any of the mysteries before Emma does?

This book includes a list of characters in the front of the book with little one sentence descriptions for each of them, thus making it easier to comprehend what is going on throughout the story. If you get lost with who is who in this story you can always use this character’s list as a reference.

They also include “Taking this Further” section in the back of the book including “Filling in the Spaces” which informs the readers of subplots and information that the cut from the original book. “Back in time” which includes information about the author, “Finding out more” which gives you resources to find out more about the book and author, and lastly “Food for thought” which gives you questions to further the reader to think about the characters, themes and plots.

This book is great for kids in late elementary or early middle school. I would not advertise it for adults even as an abridge version of the original story. Though, I think this book would be an excellent addition to classroom homework, I find that it was too easy of an read that many adults would not be interested in. I am a huge fan of the original story, and I agree with what subplots they decided to leave out. It’s hard with these adaptations, the originals are always best but that is not the point of these books. The point is to capture as much of the original story in a short easier to read story for less “read-aholics”. I think they did just swell in their attempts to downsize this story and hope all younger adults will enjoy the plot as much as I did. 

DISCLAIMER: I received this book free from Goodreads first reads for this review. I pride myself on an honest review. Therefor just because I received this book for free for my review I review these books unbiased.