I have mixed feelings about this book. I am glad to have read it - I loved A Little Princess and The Secret Garden as a child (and as a teen as well) and it was mostly an enjoyable read. 

I enjoyed the first part more than the second - I am a fan of a typical Victorian romance - and I did enjoy the second part but not as much as the first. I liked Emily as a character - though I don’t think she developed that much since she mostly stayed sweet and kind throughout - and she certainly was not clever - and I thought the commentary on marriage in the late Victorian era was interesting, since Hodgson Burnett had two failed marriages in her time. 

This book is very of its time in terms of its depictions of race and class, there were some passages which I felt uncomfortable reading since attitudes have shifted dramatically since the year this book was published (1901). I would call some of her attitudes towards the Indian characters in this book racist, and I was disappointed, but this book was written in the time of the British Empire where such attitudes were considered normal, and she does have some empathy for characters from India or with mixed race heritage, such as the poor Mrs Osborn. 

Overall I enjoyed the first part more than the second, but I found the second part interesting and I am glad to have read the book, and I’m glad that Persephone Books published it - it is important to read the forgotten works of female authors so often pushed into the shadows by their male counterparts. I would recommend it, but I would say that a reader should remember the times that it was written in, and read the book critically. 

I can enjoy simple and trivial stories, which I think this classifies as, but this one didn't work for me. I know the author can write inspiring books that are both heart warming and discuss important topics at the same time, so why is this work for adults so much less than her childrens books?
 Apart from the parts that just didn't age well, the characters were already just stereotypes back when this was written and the book doesn't seem to know what kind of story it wants to tell (shifts of narrative and tone). All of it is lacking depth, but there is not even enough charme or fun to balance that. The only things I really enjoyed were the writing and the tiny comments about how hard life as person that isn't wealthy is like, but than again I don't feels it handles this poorer people narrative that well.
 I think this book is close to being a fine palet cleanser, because both main stories are nice ideas in itself, but than it never sells its characters, situations or developements to me in a way I can believe them or feel any impact.