The Other Emma

De: Sharon Gloger Friedman

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Winner 2025 Fall PenCraft Award, Fiction - Historical Genre
In 1880, Rose Litkin, a nine-year-old orphan from the tenements of the Lower East Side, is adopted by Lucien Boyesten, a widowed banker seeking a companion for his spoiled ten-year-old daughter, Emma. Rose is whisked away to Boston—to a sister who resents and torments her—and struggles to find her place in a family where secrets abound. Eight years later, impoverished and fleeing the disgrace of Lucien’s fraudulent business practices and tragic death, Rose and Emma board a train bound for New York to live with Lucien’s estranged sister, Frances. But a raging blizzard strands their train in the path of a runaway railway coach, and Emma perishes in the collision. Alone and frightened, Rose makes a desperate decision… Rose is warmly welcomed into Frances’s home as “Emma” and quickly becomes a part of her aunt’s extended family. But the happiness that has always eluded her is still out of reach—clouded by the unbearable weight of her deception and the fear of losing everyone she holds dear. Set against the glitter and greed of the Gilded Age and rich in historic detail, The Other Emma chronicles Rose’s journey from the despair of the tenements to the mansions of Fifth Avenue. The novel is both tragic and sweet—a rags-to-riches tale and a testament to the enduring power of family and forgiveness.

Beautifully written

This book started out so strong. I couldn’t wait to hear what was going to happen to the characters next. I was immediately attached to the characters. Unfortunately for me, I did not enjoy it as much, half way through. This is no fault of the writing because the writing was beautiful! It fell flat to my ears because I’m not overly fond of the romance, or when it is love story heavy. I felt the focus leaned a little heavier on that and less focus on the rest of the story. Overall this was a good book. Don’t let my review stop you from reading it. I say reading because I listened to the audiobook and I was extremely disappointed because it was narrated with a virtual voice. I have listened to a lot of audiobooks. I believe authors could receive better reviews and increase the enjoyment factor for the reader, with good narration, or make it worse, with poor narration. Sadly, because this was AI narrated I didn’t enjoy it as much, as I could have. It required intense effort to finish this book because of the virtual narration, otherwise it was a nice story.

STORY KEPT ME LISTENING…

The story itself was good (although I find falling desperately in love after two meetings a little unrealistic).

However, the story itself kept me listening to find out what happened at the end.

This book would have been ten times better if it had a REAL narrator rather than computer generated. While the computer voice is pleasant enough, there is no inflection in the speech (no real emotion, no difference between statements and questions, etc).

I got this book for free from the Premium Membership Catalog, so I won’t complain too much about the computer narrated voice. I know now that I dislike it and will avoid other similarly narrated books.