Group Read: Emiko by Chieri Uegaki

Join us online for an hour each week over 10 weeks to discuss Emiko, a contemporary version of Jane Austen's Emma set in Canada.

(Order your copy through us by 20 March 2026 for delivery at the 23 May meeting or couriered in NZ)

About Emiko:

A busybody foodie avoids questions of her own future as she meddles in the love lives of those around her. Has this matcha-maker met her match?

Self-declared matchmaking GENIUS (a la Beyonce) Emiko Kimori has already found success by helping her aunt find true love, so when the new girl in town becomes her new BFF, it's only natural for Emiko to help set her up for social success with a suitable love match.

Emiko lives with her Ojiichan in a small town on BC's West Coast surrounded by friends and neighbors, including her childhood friend Kenzo Sanada, who wishes she'd spend less time playing matchmaker. But Emiko can so clearly see who belongs together, even when her targets don't know it themselves. She simply has to meddle - for the sake of true love!

As for her own romantic life though . . . who has time for that? Emiko is far too busy with her matchmaking schemes, her brunch recipes, volunteering, her bustling social life, keeping up her grades, eating said brunch recipes and making plans for after graduation. Plans she will absolutely decide on soon. Definitely. Maybe? But when Emiko ends up falling for the last person she expects, she finds herself caught in the tangled web of her own love matches. For the first time, instead of arranging from afar, Emiko has to figure out what it means to be in love herself, and that friendship and romance are more complicated than she ever imagined . . .

About the Author:

Chieri Uegaki is a second generation Japanese-Canadian and award-winning children’s author living and writing on Vancouver Island, in the traditional and unceded territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking peoples, today known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing Department and has written a number of stories for children, including the picture books Suki’s Kimono and Rosie and Buttercup (both illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch); Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin (illustrated by Qin Leng); and Ojiichan’s Gift (illustrated by Genevieve Simms).

When not reading or writing, Chieri consumes rom-coms and mysteries in any form, chooses appetizers over dessert most of the time, and tries to stay on top of her collecting problem. She is currently working on a number of projects.

Rachel Pilois (Book Buyer) on this selection:

There have been many retellings of Austen’s novels in the last 200 years. Pride and Prejudice easily wins the prize of Austen’s most adapted novel in both film and literature. In the last 20 years there’s been a noticeable growth in culturally (and gender) diverse takes on Austen’s work, with the most popular retellings being of Indian (i.e Bride and Prejudice) or African-American (i.e. Ibi Zoboi’s Pride) heritage. Sadly, some of her less popular novels (Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey) have few adaptations in both film and literature, faithful or modern retelling.

With the 2026 theme of the JASNZ being diversity it made sense to choose a slightly less popular novel (only in terms of how many adaptations) and a slightly less common culture used in Austen retellings. Thus I settled on the upcoming YA novel Emiko by Chieri Uegaki, a Japanese-Canadian retelling of Emma.

Emma is a much beloved story and a much beloved character, who’s thoughts, actions and motivations are very recognisable in a modern teenager. Adding in the deep cultural etiquette of Japan as a likeness to the rules of regency society, makes Uegaki’s Emiko a brilliant and well thought out modern retelling of the Emma.

As it publishes on 9 September 2025, we can discover and discuss this new and exciting adaptation for the first time together! 

Suggested Dates & Chapter Allocations (TBC):

Thursday 6 August 2026 1-3

Thursday 13 August 2026 4-6

Thursday 20 August 2026 7-9

Thursday 27 August 2026 10-12

Thursday 3 September 2026 13-15

Thursday 10 September 2026 16-18

Thursday 17 September 2026 19-21

Thursday 24 September 2026 22-24

Thursday 1 October 2026 25-27

Thursday 8 October 2026 28-30

Thursday 15 October 2026 31-33

NB: These sessions are for a medium sized group, held on GoBrunch for an hour each week