From Publishers Weekly
Once again Aiken (Mansfield Revisited ) playfully recreates the fictional world of Jane Austen by appropriating her characters: Jane Fairfax is the friend and rival of the heroine of Emma . Here, headstrong, self-important Emma Woodhouse is pushed from center stage as the limelight falls on the childhood and maturation of her foil. Orphaned Jane is brought up by her shabby-genteel aunt and grandmother in Highbury, near the Woodhouse family estate. Jane joins Emma in her music lessons, where Jane's talent and diligence invite a jealousy in Emma, which is partly overcome after the death of her mother leaves a disconsolate Emma receptive to too-good-to-be-true Jane's sympathy. Then an old family friend whisks Jane off to London in order to educate her alongside his daughters, so that she might eventually support herself as a governess. A grown-up Jane returns to Highbury secretly engaged to Frank Churchill, whose aunt refuses to die and leave him the money and freedom to marry as he chooses. While Aiken lacks Austen's incomparable style and wit, her light, diverting novel captures the flavor, if not the substance, of Austen's milieu.

From Library Journal
Those who remember reading Jane Austen's Emma will enjoy this superbly crafted novel that tells about the "other heroine" in Austen's novel, the mysterious and enigmatic Jane Fairfax. This delightfully refreshing work recounts the circumstances shaping Jane's personality. Aiken manages to assume the language of Austen's time, with wit, subtle humor, and wise insights drawn from the most ordinary affairs of daily life. Those insights especially concern relations between the social classes and the sexes. One need not have read Emma to enjoy this book. It is a fine work likely to please the more serious reader, especially those who love Austen. Nancy Paul