Emily Fox-Seton

Written by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Narrated by A Full Cast

This two-part adult fairytale by the author of The Secret Garden combines a charming Cinderella tale with an ironic look at class structure and the Edwardian marriage market in turn-of-the-century London. Emily Fox-Seton is distantly related to aristocracy, but she is struggling to make ends meet. When she agrees to serve the aristocracy in their beautiful garden estates, she is surprised to receive the attentions of the Marquis of Walderhurst, a man who is being widely and openly pursued for marriage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: Jan 2, 2006
• ISBN: 9781455107254

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was an English-American author and playwright. She is best known for her incredibly popular novels for children, including Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden.

Reviews for Emily Fox-Seton

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Emily Fox-Seton is a woman who has all the correct breeding, but no family and no money to go with it. What is a woman to do? In her Pollyanna way, she does very well, thank you. With all the wonderful clothing and scenery descriptions, this is like reading about Downton Abbey. A bit more subdued in the sex and drama parts perhaps.Written in 1901, this book has its share of what we would call inappropriate ideas of the role of a woman and perhaps racial attitudes. If you can understand that it is a book of its time, you will enjoy it I think. In fact, although I rolled my eyes at some of the scenarios, in the end, it won me over with some excellent characterizations. Can't go into specifics or it would be all spoilerish.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am always impressed by Burnett's ability to write sweet stories without being twee or saccharine. This is what Edith Wharton would write on anti-depressants.

[annejacinta · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

That old term Charming applies to this book, and to Emily Fox Seton. A main character whose chief attribute is kindness, imagine that!Great intro and afterword to Persephone edition, both point out the depiction of the Edwardian marriage market, and the tough realities of life for women of all classes actually.

[empress8411 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a queer, strange little book. I was eager to read this because, like many people, I adore Burnett's Children's book. This book, of course, was to be more serious and adult. However, I was neither a sentimental romance or a melodrama commenting on marriage - but a strange mix of the two. At time I enjoyed it, and then, I would hate it. I'm still not certain how I feel about it. The ending was abrupt and odd and startling. It felt like it should have come on, but it didn't. I'm not sure I would recommend this book.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett; (3 1/2*)Frances Hodgson Burnett is one of my favorite children & Y/A authors. I love The Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess is my ultimate favorite book for the young, bar none! So I was a little surprised to find that I did not actually love this book though I liked it a great deal.I found it to be a beautiful period-piece love story. The main character is a strong woman.....for her life and times. She overcomes hardships in her early years and treachery later for the love of her life.I do think that I will want to read it more than this once in order to appreciate all of the little nuances. (And I may appreciate it more on a reread.) In what seems to be a world of misery and chaos this mid-century novel provides a safe place to hide for a while.I does have one weird moment but I don't want to spoil that for you. However in the end it all comes together.I enjoyed the story with it's wee yet surprising twists & turns. I found it an interesting study of the times. It, IMHO, is not brilliantly written but it is a captivating read.

[kathleen586 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short novella The Making of a Marchioness is a very good Cinderella-type story (5 stars). The sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst, has a rather uneven plot, but I still really enjoyed it (4 stars).

[mariaalhambra · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is a strange concoction of social comedy and high melodrama, following the story of a kind, innocent woman, Emily Fox-Seton, who manages to conquer the heart of the perpetually eye-glass-wearing Marquis of Walderhurst. It is very uneven in plot and style, with some terrible cliches and over-the-top situations which sometimes even the author does not seem to take seriously. There are nevertheless some delightful scenes, like Emily's fish shopping errand or the description of her cheaply furnished ( but extremely neat) room in the lodging house.

[lindawwilson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can't tell from the kindle version that I read whether there are two separate books or just one. It seems there is just one book with the above titles. I enjoyed it very much; thought it was somewhat like a Trollope novel. Well written, good story.

[diefledermaus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book went by quickly, like many other Persephone books that I’ve read. The prose flowed pretty well and the plot kept me reading. However, I thought there were times when the story dipped into sentimentality and a stereotypical Indian character played a large part in the latter half of the book. The first part of the book is a Cinderella story, the second part is an almost Gothic melodrama.At the beginning of the book, Emily Fox-Seton is a well-born and well-educated no-longer-young woman who must work for a living. She runs errands for and organizes the lives of members of the aristocracy and others and must maintain her genteel appearance on a small income. Emily could be a bit much at times, with her enthusiasm manifested in an overuse of italics. However, I thought she was interesting because she differed from a number of other poor heroines who eventually get married. She wasn’t an intelligent, introverted plain Jane or a gorgeous and witty girl whose only barrier to marriage is a lack of fortune. At the same time, though, she wasn’t dull – in fact, her optimism and enthusiasm tended to make others pleasant and gregarious. Also, Emily has a rather dated but appropriate for the time view of marriage – it’s mainly something that will support a woman and is generally obtained by being beautiful, though being charming and witty helps. Romance is not something she thinks about and she’s not a woman who will stubbornly hold out for the right man, but rather than one who is decent and there.Emily is invited to help Lady Maria Bayne entertain at her country house and settles into a lady-of-all-work role while Lady Maria’s cousin, the much sought-after Marquis of Walderhurst, seems to waffle between two eligible women, beautiful, sweet Lady Agatha – whose exalted social position and lack of money means she must marry soon or be pushed aside for her younger sisters – and a sharp, sparkling American heiress. The marquis chooses Emily, but has very unromantic reasons for doing so, which was rather refreshing. He partly wants to spite his good-for-nothing heir and wants to choose a woman who will not require much fussing – Emily certainly fits the bill. It’s not an ecstatic happily-ever-after, love-at-first-sight end, but it might as well be given Emily’s grateful reaction. In the second half, Emily is now the Marquise of Walderhurst, but is menaced by the displaced heir of the title, his Indian-born Anglo wife, and her Indian maid. There were some annoying stereotypes in this portion – the displaced, violent man and the Indian woman who is emotional but not rational, a nursemaid to the Anglo woman, and almost “magic” – able to heal and kill. Emily also becomes increasingly dependent and helpless in the second half, culminating with another too-sentimental penultimate scene, where her martyr behavior is at an extreme. A fast and engrossing read, but some irritations.

[kasthu_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Emily Fox-Seton is poor—not desperately so, but genteel. She’s a simple soul really, content in the simple pleasures of life, hating the life she was born into but not knowing that she deserves much better. For work, she takes on odd jobs for wealthy women. When Lady Maria invites her to a country house-party, Emily meets the marquis, Lord Walderhurst, who, to her surprise, asks her to marry him. What follows is “the making of a marchioness,” as Emily adjusts to her new life. There, she meets two of Lord Walderhurst’s relatives—his disgruntled heir presumptive, Captain Osborn, and wife Hester, just back from India.Frances Hodgson Burnett is better known for some of her other books (including The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy), but The Making of a Marchioness is a fine novel as well. Emily is a bit too perfect, sometimes, but she’s a sweet woman, blissfully ignorant of the bad feelings and thoughts of those around her. You just can’t help but to like her. According to the preface, the author called Emily “a sort of Cinderella… with big feet instead of little ones.” And indeed, this is a kind of Cinderella story. Walderhurst isn’t a Prince Charming, though—he married not so much for love as for comfort, and he’s taciturn at the best of times. Still, he loves Emily in his own strange way.This is a story that tries so hard not to be sentimental that it is, in a way. Like some of her other books, The Making of a Marchioness is about class—the pretension or lack thereof to enter into high society. It’s also, on a way, about contrasts; nobody could be more different than Emily than Hester, and nobody could be more different from the very English maid Jane Cupp than Hester’s ayah Ameerah. The novel was published in 1901, and in some ways it suffers from late Victorian and Edwardian prejudices towards Indians (there’s even an Uncle Tom’s Cabin reference in there somewhere). But if you can overlook this, this really is a charming little book.This is Persephone #29