First published 2015
Emma Woodhouse comes back to Highbury village fresh from university graduation. She moves in with her health-obsessed father while preparing to start her interior design company. Emma believes she understands people better than they understand themselves. She decides to guide the newcomers arriving in town that summer. Harriet Smith works as a teaching assistant at Mrs. Goddard's ESL school and needs Emma's wisdom about romance. Frank Churchill appears as the good-looking stepson of Emma's old governess. The accomplished Jane Fairfax also enters their social circle. Emma dispenses advice to these less experienced souls, though her counsel does not always produce the results she expects. She must navigate the complications that arise from her interference in other people's lives while figuring out her own path forward.
Genres: romance, contemporary, adult-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, meddling-matchmaker
Setting: Highbury, England
Period: 19th Century
361 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon