Emma
This week the girls discuss Jane Austen's Emma, from the comfort of their respective, socially distanced homes.
The girls talk about the heroine Jane Austen was sure no one would like (hereafter referred to as "the original mean girl"), her journey of self-discovery through the book and just how good they think Mr Knightley smelled (hint: very). Of course they wound off topic, with other discussions included (but not limited to):
- Chloe's recent spamming of Katie's WhatsApp with questionable gifs
- Cliodhna's inability to take part in remote Tuesday night pizza
- Miss Bates being everyone's favourite character ever, and
- The fact that Jane Fairfax was actually the heroine all along (mind-blown emoji)
Tune in, wash your hands, go for a walk while staying 6 feet away from everyone else, the world is your oyster folks!
Emma is a novel about youthful hubris and romantic misunderstandings, written by Jane Austen. It is set in the fictional country village of Highbury and the surrounding estates of Hartfield, Randalls and Donwell Abbey, and involves the relationships among people from a small number of families. The novel was first published in December 1815, with its title page listing a publication date of 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 vex her." 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 imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.
Emma, written after Austen's move to Chawton, was her last novel to be published during her lifetime
For more on Jane Austen, visit