Original manuscript
Brontë began work on ''Emma'' in 1853. Her marriage in 1854 and the lukewarm enthusiasm of her husband for the project may have contributed to her slow progress towards completion. The manuscript was left unfinished at her death in 1855. The original twenty-page manuscript consists of two chapters describing the arrival of an apparently wealthy young girl, "Matilda Fitzgibbon", at an expensive private school. It transpires that her identity is fake, and that her school fees will not be paid. The child is unable to answer any questions as to her true identity.Savery's completion
Constance Savery published a completion in 1980.Boylan's completion
Clare Boyan's ''Emma'': ''A Novel from the Unfinished Manuscript by Charlotte Brontë'' was published in 2003. Boylan "steeped herself in letters and writings" and acknowledged the assistance of several notable Brontë scholars in her afterword to the novel. Boylan developed the story as a mystery novel, using two characters from Brontë's original chapters who work together to solve the puzzle of the eponymous girl's identity: Mrs. Chalfont, a widow introduced as a narrator in the manuscript, and Mr. Ellin, a lawyer who accepts the challenge the girl represents.Reception
Boylan's version was favourably reviewed but was not regarded as a faithful continuation of the style and voice of Brontë. Boylan's ''Telegraph'' obituary concluded that she "conveyed little of the deep moral and theological framework that underpinned Charlotte Brontë's writing."References
External links
* {{librivox book , dtitle=Emma: A Fragment of a Story , stitle=Emma , author=Charlotte BRONTË 2003 British novels Works originally published in The Cornhill Magazine