Joan Ellen Delman

Thank you, Joan Ellen Delman, for restoring my faith in Jane Fairfax! How refreshing to read Jane Austen's Emma from the perspective of another character, without abusing the original heroine, or introducing unlikely or anachronistic subplots. Although Jane's story requires a lot of padding and references to the original text, I was absolutely delighted with the result - truly a worthy counterpart to Austen, respectful and entertaining.

Beautiful, graceful, elegant and accomplished Jane Fairfax is perhaps more of a deserving heroine than 'handsome, clever and rich' Emma Woodhouse, though she lacks any of Emma's independence and genuine transformation of character. I have never really understood the 'Cinderella' appeal of Jane, who does everything right and even benefits from the one occasion when she allows her halo to slip, but the temptation to share firsthand her secret engagement with Frank Churchill was too great to resist. Joan Aiken made a hash of the opportunity in her novel Jane Fairfax, so I invested in a second opinion and was rewarded with romance, intrigue, wit and faithful representations of familiar characters. Adhering closely to Austen's narrative style and conventions, Delman mimics Northanger Abbey in the opening chapter ('But a heroine we must have ...'), replicates Persuasion with the ruptured romance of Miss Devere and James Hammond in Weymouth, and even adds shades of Mansfield Park when Colonel Campbell advises Jane to accept Mr Devere's proposal for her own future security! However, the heart of Jane's story is her secret engagement to Frank Churchill, and there Joan Delman works in perfect alliance with Austen's genius, by 'filling in the blanks' at Weymouth, and during those stolen interludes at Highbury that have always fired the reader's imagination.

Mocking the romantic insistence that Jane's life must have been one of hardship and neglect, properly befitting a future governess a la Jane Eyre, Delman introduces her unsuspecting heroine as 'Colonel Campbell's pet, Mrs Campbell's darling, and Miss Campbell's bosom friend'. The family take her with them to Weymouth, where Jane meets the Tilney-like brother and sister Mr and Miss Devere, Mr Devere's Lady de Bourgh-esque patroness Lady Paget - a former friend of Frank's aunt, Eugenia Churchill! - and of course, Frank Churchill himself. (I have always found the chance meetings in Austen's novels slightly too coincidental to swallow, so the 'small world' interactions of Delman's own characters are suitably fitting.) Frank and Jane's spontaneous courtship, after a meeting in a library, is entirely believable and heartwarming. Frank falls in love after hearing Jane sing, and Jane feels herself drawn to him as a 'kindred spirit'. Janeites who grumbled at Sandy Welch's emphasis on the cosmic bond between Jane, Frank and Emma in the 2009 BBC miniseries might object to Delman writing that 'some mysterious working of fate had predestined' Jane and Frank to get together, but the circumstances already exist in Emma. The young couple are soon besotted with each other, and somehow Jane finds herself permitting - if not consenting outright - to a private engagement until Frank gathers the courage to confront his overbearing aunt.

Perhaps my main challenge with Jane Fairfax has always been how saintly she seems, without a single flaw to make her more interesting. Joan Delman does nothing to damage her reputation, but Jane becomes far more sympathetic as the heroine of the story, not judged by the biased opinions of Miss Bates (in her favour) and Emma Woodhouse (against). Trying to excuse the slippery Mr Churchill's motives and actions is another matter altogether - Frank's noble devotion to a former governess fallen on hard times, and his readiness to throw over his Enscombe inheritance but for the sake of his beloved uncle, construct an incredible and rather dubious defence of his character. He even rescues a kitten at one point! But by the time Box Hill comes around, Frank's true nature - whether careless or crafty - has been restored, and the heart-to-heart between the lovers is honestly and lovingly portrayed, and well worth waiting for.

Despite over compensating for Frank and Jane's lack of judgement, Joan Delman remains safely within the boundaries of Austen's imagination, and does not feel the need to pull one character down in order to build up another. The tying up of loose ends in the final chapter is slightly over-enthusiastic, glibly announcing a series of improbable marriages while cheating the Churchills of their ill-gotten gains, but on the whole, everyone finds the happy ending they deserve. Overall, a solid, satisfying, and refreshingly positive reworking of Emma!… (altro)