I love Mori's series A Bride's Story, so when I found the local library had this other series by her, I had to give it a go. I liked it, but not as much. Perhaps it's that it's the first volume, and a lot of this is set-up... but it is, admittedly, very slow set-up. Emma, the title character, is working as a maid in nineteenth century England, and falls in love with someone who Mori characterises, in her afterword, as useless but easy to draw. (I've just finished the book and I've already forgotten his name, so her assessment's right on the money with that one.)

The basic conflict of the series is that of class: Emma is definitely working class, while her forgettable suitor is rich, with a father who stresses the importance of a good match. Such is the obstacle between them, but Mori, in my experience, is not really one for angst, and so the goodnatured beginning portrayed here is likely to go on in the same way, and I'm certain of a happy ending. I wish I could be a little more certain that Emma has a personality, however. She's apparently beautiful, kind, and very reserved, but other than that I get very little sense of her. She's very much in the mould of Dicken's angel of the house, and they are never very interesting. As such, the whole thing's pleasant, and I'll keep reading, but it's not grabbing me like A Bride's Story did.