cover image Emma of 83rd Street

Emma of 83rd Street

Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding. Gallery, $17.99 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-66800-839-3

Author team Bellezza and Harding put a contemporary rom-com spin on Jane Austen’s Emma in their charming debut. In their reimagining, beautiful and wealthy 23-year-old grad student Emma Woodhouse’s world revolves around New York’s Upper East Side. She struggles between claiming independence and her family’s approval when faced with the growing pains of adulting. With her collegiate girlfriends living their lives abroad, and her sister marrying and moving away, Emma copes with feelings of abandonment by playing matchmaker for her new friend and classmate, Nadine Pittman—a project that inevitably goes awry. Meanwhile Emma realizes her own feelings for strikingly handsome George Knightley, her childhood friend and neighbor, who recognizes an attraction to her as well. But miscommunication, misconceptions, and misunderstandings threaten both their lifelong friendship and their chance at a relationship. The authors bring plenty of wit to this classic friends-to-lovers tale. Readers will fall in love with Emma Woodhouse all over again. Agent: Joelle Delbourgo, Joelle Delbourgo Assoc. (May)