The Year is 1883
Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.
Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
Beth Brower
When I set out to write The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, I wanted to give readers a format with a twist. Something fresh. Just a touch different. Also, I wanted Emma to live a large swath of her life with the reader fully taking part. It is a journal, after all. And so I approached the story as if it were a television series with four seasons, the first being the year 1883.
As many of you know by now, each volume covers two months of
Emma's life. There are arcs in these individual volumes, arcs for each of the years, and arcs that criss-cross the entire story. It is important for readers to note, therefore, that there is A LOT of time for ups and downs, ins and outs. I hope you enjoy the journey—it will most certainly be one.
Beth Brower is also the author of The Books of Imirillia, The Q, & The Beast of Ten.
Genevieve Gaunt
Genevieve Gaunt is an actor and interviewer. A Londoner born and bred, she started her career as Pansy Parkinson in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and went on to read English at Cambridge where she graduated with a Double First. She works as an actor across television, film and stage; most recently playing Marilyn Monroe in The Marilyn Conspiracy (Park Theatre). Genevieve is an award-winning voice actor (video games, audiobooks, radio) including narrating the James Bond novel The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming.
Alongside acting, Genevieve reviews books for The Spectator magazine, writes for audiodrama and interviews authors and creatives for live events and in print for A Rabbit’s Foot. Guests include Alice Loxton, Patrick Radden Keefe, Dr Frank Tallis, Santa Montefiore and Amor Towles. Her podcast The Cupid Couch made The Radio Times’ ‘34 Best Podcasts of 2021’. In 2022 she co-curated The Braemar Literary Festival with Hauser & Wirth and the Queen’s ‘Reading Room’.
Genevieve is very excited about narrating the rich and glorious world of Emma M. Lion and inhabiting St. Crispians. Her ragdoll, Bluebell is curious about two things; a feline gentleman by the name of Tybalt and the fact that her mistress shares a birthday with Emma: January 13th. Fata viam invenient?
Acting agent: United Agents www.unitedagents.co.uk/genevieve-gaunt
Voice agent: Michele Daeche https://www.thevoiceagency.co.uk/artists/genevieve-gaunt
Photo © Hubert Cecil @hubertcecil
Tamsin Collison
Tamsin Collison is an award-winning audio director with over 500 audiobooks and dramas to her credit. She has worked on titles ranging from ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’ to ‘Beowulf’ in the original Anglo Saxon, and with artists ranging from David Tennant to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
During Lockdown she directed a pioneering, remote-recorded, full-cast production of Jane Austen’s ‘Mansfield Park’, an unabridged reading of Tolstoy’s ‘War& Peace’, and The Audible Book of British and Irish Verse. Other recent highlights include ‘All the Sonnets of Shakespeare’ with Sir Kenneth Brannagh and Lolita Chakrabarti, a dramatization of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in collaboration Tchaikowsky and the London Symphony Orchestra, and a new, all-star-cast edition of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels.
She is currently working on an exciting new drama project for Audible, which will launch at the end of 2025 (details to be announced). Tamsin lectures and directs at leading UK drama academies, including RADA and LAMDA, and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also a lyricist/librettist, commissioned by English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, Tête à Tête Opera, Highbury Opera Theatre and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Recent works include ‘Last Man Standing’, written with composer Cheryl Frances Hoad for the BBC’s Armistice Centenary concert season, and a new opera based on Michael Palin’s play ‘The Weekend’, written with jazz maestro Scott Stroman.