Alexander McCall Smith rewrites Jane Austen

...She provides a fascinating picture of the ways of that slice of society and the confines within which its members, particularly women, are obliged to live. She is also extremely funny, able to paint the foibles of characters with a dry wit that has dated very little. Her books are intimate and compelling. She has a voice that somehow seems to chime even with a modern sensibility. She is, in essence, timeless.
So, if you are an author and a publisher sidles up to you and asks you to rewrite a Jane Austen novel, setting it in modern times, what do you say? It took me no more than 45 seconds to say yes to an invitation to rewrite “Emma.” And I then had more fun doing it than I have had for as many years as I can remember.