emma m. lion.

Before I write about the homeschool conference I need to tell you about a grand event we had in March: an Emma Lion tea.

What on earth is that, you ask?

Well, I’ve known for several months I needed to devote an entire blog post to my new favorite author: Beth Brower. My mother-in-law, Linda, discovered her novels through a friend, and they are the best sort of virus that has spread among our friends and family.

By now I’ve read nearly all the novels she’s written (see the photo below), but we began with The Selected Journals of Emma M. Lion, and I think they remain the group’s collective favorite.

 

How should I describe this series for you? Hmm. I generally tell people, “It’s like Jane Austen, only better.”

The Emma Lion series and Beth Brower’s standalone novel, The Q, are set in Victorian England. And they are pure delight. Charming. Witty. Heart-warming. Profound. Laugh-out-loud funny. Filled with some of the quirkiest and best characters you’ll meet in literature.

Beth Brower self-publishes her books, so they’re a bit hard to come by, but I’m happy to tell you that thanks to my fearless mother-in-law, the Richland County Library system now carries the novels. You can request your own library to order them too! Or just go ahead and buy them, because you’ll want to reread, I promise. I also underline liberally and make notes in the margins.

The Emma Lion books are novellas; there are currently six out, and because we watched a special invitation-only (if you’re on her email list) webinar by Beth Brower herself, I can tell you that there are going to be 25 books total in this series.

You heard right.

Within the Emma Lion cult-following, this news produces an equal measure of delight and exasperation.

Twenty-five!?

Steve and Linda (yes, they both read the Emma Lion’s. As do both my mom and my dad! See!? They’re that good!), told me I’ll be hovering over their hospice bedside years and years from now calling out, “Can you hear me? Book 21 just came out! I’ll read it to you!”

These are all the details I’m going to give you about the actual books. You’re just going to have to discover them for yourself.

But a group of us from church did hold our first ever Emma Lion tea a couple weekends ago.

It was in true British style, complete with scones and cheese biscuits and cucumber sandwiches and all manner of lovely things to eat. If you’re wondering why the tea labels are written backwards, well, you must read the books.

 

 

 

Some of us went all out in preparation. Amie copied the complete character list and descriptions from the front of Book 6. Violet sketched a portrait of Emma herself. And Steve compiled Emma’s family tree and sketched out what he estimates is a map of the neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. Noah even donated a goblet of his favorite lapis lazuli stones as a table decoration.

 

We spent a glorious two hours around the table sipping pots of tea, feasting, laughing, and arguing over Emma and her friends and her enemies and all things St. Crispian’s.

 

Steve gave us a tour of St. Crispain’s neighborhood and a couple of images of what Lapis Lazuli house might’ve looked like.

 

We did a dramatic reading of one of our favorite scenes in which we learned that Cheryl is a very convincing Aunt Eugenia.

 

And we made plans to do it all over again when the next book is released (soon? please, dear Beth Brower?). We’ve heard a rumor she’ll release several in a succession, which makes our hearts leap in anticipation.

 

In the meantime, we reread her books and make notes in the margins, just as Emma herself would do, and share quotes and generally feel like the characters are our own friends.

It’s a wonderful way to live.