Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse delights in interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée, Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.

Though not widely recognized during her lifetime, Jane Austen has become one of England's most renowned novelists. Born in 1775, Austen lived a quiet life and began writing in her youth, though she did not publish until 1811 with the anonymous release of Sense and Sensibility. This was followed by three novels before her death in 1817: Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816). Austen is known for her satirical portraits of social customs and marriage rituals, though she wrote during the passionate Romantic period. Some view her as aligned with earlier eighteenth-century ideals of reason and propriety. However, her witty heroines also reflect an emerging feminism and intelligence that contrasted with women's confined roles. While her endings espouse marriage, novels like Emma provoke questions about women's fulfillment and Austen's own views. Through her rich domestic portraits and investigations of social mores, Austen captured the constrictions on women's lives with insight that still resonates centuries later.