Until recently, the only book of Austen's which I had read was Pride and Prejudice, along with many take-offs using the Bennett family as a starting point. I have been thirsting for something substantial to read, something that would be a sure winner, and Emma was that sure winner.
Possibly everyone reading has long been aware of the plot of this novel: Emma is a twenty-one-year-old woman from a family of means, determined to care for her elderly father rather than to marry. She does relish the idea of trying to match up other available young people and she takes credit for the successful marriage of her former governess and a local widower. When Emma meets Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown parentage, Emma is determined to keep her from marrying a farmer who has caught her eye, but instead wants to match her up with a man who is higher up in society. Things don't always work out the way she expects.
The reader meets all sorts of people in the small town of Highbury, some 16 miles outside of London, many of whom are just regular folks, and some who are more in the "gentleman's" class of people, such as her neighbor, Mr. Knightley, who is the brother of Emma's sister's husband. Sometimes Emma has a streak of classism and other times we see a more humanitarian side of her. Her inclinations evolve as time goes on and as she tries to assuage her father's negativity. This work is a fine, classic story.
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