Set in the Late Victorian Era, this story follows the forbidden romance of Emma, a maid of "allworks", and William Jones, son of a upstanding wealthy merchant family. Of course such a relationship in a such a class-conscious as 19th century is almost impossible as the manga will show through its beautiful art and pages.
Using a main plot that has been juiced to a shriveling core, Emma almost perfectly executes a story that could have been mangled by the first chapter. Yet, the story was so gripping that I finished the 72 chapter manga in 2 1/2 days....quite enjoyable. THe art is sometimes a bit...flat..... especially the faces and the mangaka heavily uses clothing and hairstyles to differentiate female characters. However, the story itself is riveting beyond believe. The characters are almost all fleshed out and the main protagonists...I actually like them for once...especially the female protagonist.The mangaka is a feminist that crates strong female characters as shown here and other of her works... But above all, for the historical conscious readers out there, such as myself, the historical accuracy of the story that drew me in. There is a plethora of references that even I could not catch on at the first time. After all she did hire a historian and as a self-proclaimed anglophile to back up here facts.... Fantastic series.....I would put it on par to Eden It's an Endless world for sheer substance and length.
