Younger Sister - Part III

The third and final part is marked by Emma's search for happiness. And just when it seems within her grasp, it always slips away into the distance. The Croydon doctor, Mr Morgan, adored by his patients, tries to pick the most beautiful flower – not realising, however, that Emma surpasses the local young ladies not only in charm, but also in her broad-mindedness and personality. A kind-hearted sibling pair enters the scene, Pastor Bridge and his unmarried sister, who help Emma escape from Morgan's clutches and from the unkind home ruled by her despotic sister-in-law Jane and her pragmatic husband Robert, a Croydon lawyer and the eldest son of the late Mr Watson. And another welcome invitation comes from the newlyweds, Rosa and William Gordon.

The growing contrasts – whether between the grey city streets and the spring scenery in Burton, where Emma has taken refuge thanks to the hospitality of Miss Bridge, or between the blind ambition of Emma's sister Margaret, who is content to have forced the “gentleman” Tom Musgrove to become her husband, and Emma's idealism, which seems to distance her from her surroundings – hint that the grand finale is coming. Its whirlwind blows away the masks of the individual players, who then appear on the stage in their true form: Lord Osborne transforms from a selfish young man into a sensitive and noble protector; his sister, the newly-married Lady Gordon, and her husband Sir William Gordon forget that it is unacceptable to befriend the “lower” classes; the lord's mother, in her desire to become Pastor Howard's wife, crosses all social boundaries; Doctor Morgan, now obsessed with the idea that Emma loves him, pays the ultimate price for his obsession; Fanny Carr throws off the mask of a proper young lady… Only Emma and her love, Mr Howard, have nothing to cast off, for their actions have always sprung from true feelings.

The reception of the first and second parts of the novel by Jane Austen and Catherine Austen Hubback has convinced us that the work of the great writer, completed by her talented niece, is still very much alive. We are all the more pleased that our publishing house, Nakladatelství ČAS, is publishing it in its very first Czech translation (translated by Jana Velvarská).