Emma - (Vintage Classics) by Jane Austen (Paperback)

About the Book

Five beloved works by Jane Austen that feature characters containing the full range of human passion and moral complexity are now presented in Vintage Classics editions.

Book Synopsis

Emma features one of Jane Austen's most unforgettable characters, an irresistible yet misguided young woman who must learn not to meddle with others' hearts--and in the process learn how to understand her own.

Twenty-one-year-old Emma Woodhouse comfortably dominates the social order in the village of Highbury, convinced that she has both the understanding and the right to manage other people's lives--for their own good, of course. Her well-meant interfering centers on the aloof Jane Fairfax, the dangerously attractive Frank Churchill, the foolish but sweet Harriet Smith, and the ambitious young vicar Mr. Elton--and ends with her complacency shattered, her mind awakened to some of life's more intractable dilemmas, and her happiness assured.

Austen's comic imagination was so deft and beautifully fluent that she could use it to probe the deepest human ironies while setting before us a dazzling gallery of characters--some pretentious or ridiculous, some admirable and moving, all utterly true.

Review Quotes

"Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." --EM Forster

About the Author

JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817) was born in Hampshire, England, where she spent most of her life. Though she received little recognition in her lifetime, she came to be regarded as one of the great masters of the English novel.