Emma – Jane Austen – Liber Publishing

"Emma is a novel written by English author Jane Austen. It is set in the fictional country village of High-bury and the surrounding estates of Hartfield, Randalls and Donwell Abbey, and involves the rela-tionships among people from a small number of families. The novel was first published in Decem-ber 1815, although the title page is dated 1816. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian–Regency England. Emma is a comedy of manners. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the first sentence, she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition... had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vexher." Emma is spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imag-ination and perceptions often lead her astray."