Emma: A Modern Retelling

by Alexander McCall Smith

self-immolation

valetudinarian.”

concomitant

redolent

solecism.

fer-de-lance

lascivious

curtilage

avuncular

insouciant

zeugmatically,

“Concupiscence

Disinclination to discuss a subject that needs to be discussed is never a solution: the topic merely assumes increasing prominence the longer it remains untouched.

aphorism,

“I’m crushed,” she said, adding extravagantly, “like a clove of garlic in a garlic press.”

forbore

oenophile

arable

concern

garret

fecund

inchoate

We do not choose the bed we are born in.”

If we can’t find it within ourselves to apologise to the descendants of our victims, then our hands will remain forever dirty. He

come a cropper?”

effrontery.

detritus

pedant.”

coruscating

ochre

misdeeds—mistakes.

There’s a big difference between a mistake, which is all about harm that you didn’t intend, and a misdeed, which is harm that you did intend.