The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion #1

by Beth Brower

look in this mirror and recognise myself less now than when I was a child. I suppose that happens when you’ve grown up and still don’t understand your place in the world.

myself cannot boast personal acquaintance, as I am a stumble or two below their lofty class, but in a place like London, one always knows of the most important people living nearby. You can’t help it. Gossip is as catching as the plague ever was.

There are realities we must face, an empty purse being one of them.

Relatable

Nothing good will come of a cousin named Jack, fictional or otherwise.

you will look very thoughtful and intelligent. Let us hope you are. Unless you hope to marry soon. Then let us hope you are not. It takes a courageous man to marry a woman with a mind.”

While there are many things beyond our control, I’ve always thought the cruellest is that we mortals are not told when our last glance is just that.

now curled up on the window seat with my burning candle, the window open to the spring night, believing there must be worse sorrows than losing my mother and my father, and the only boy who ever made up a beating part of my heart. Only I can’t think of any.

I sounded more confident than I felt; one of the great secrets to life.