This book is such a timeless classic! Emma is one of the more popular of Jane Austen’s novels and also one of the most adapted into movies or television dramas, with one recently released in 2020 starring Anya Taylor-Joy.

Published in 1815, Emma tells the story of a high spirited, intelligent young woman who, growing up in a wealthy household, is spoiled and to an extent, innocently self-deluded. When her governess gets married, she takes credit for the union and decides that she’s an expert in match making. With a newfound over-confidence in her ability to match couples, she goes on to meddle in the love life of her bestfriend and creates problems. Despite her flaws, Emma Woodhouse is a likeable heroine due to her good nature. Afterall, nobody is perfect.

“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.”

Emma, Jane Austen

Central to the story of Emma is the character of Mr Knightley, a close family friend. Unlike Emma, Mr Knightley is levelheaded, mature and plays an important role in guiding Emma in her personal growth.

Through this novel, Jane Austen teaches us some important life lessons – that social status does not make one more superior than others, and that it takes humility to see clearly. In Emma, Austen managed to skilfully intertwine life stories of the different characters into a cohesive novel that explores the subjects of love, friendship and self-discovery.

My favourite adaptation of this novel is the 1996 film with Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Jeremy Northam as the dashing Mr Knightley. And who can forget the modern retelling of Emma in the 1995 movie “Clueless” starring Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd? They were amazing.

Classics like this are always beautifully written and while Austen wrote Emma more than 200 years ago, it’s very much relatable today. We should all read more classics.