The novel, Emma, by Jane Austen, follows Emma Woodhouse, a beautiful, meddling twenty year old woman living in Highbury, and the love ties between her and her friends. Emma believes her self to be a little cupid and brilliant at love making and so she begins to try and find a love match for her friend, Harriet Smith. Emma believes she can do this as she previously finds Mr Weston, a village widower and matches him to her own governess. Emma thinks highly of Harriet, and presumes she is fit to be a gentleman's wife and therefore begins to seek Mr. Elton, the village vicar for Harriet to eventually wed. During this time, Emma convinces Harriet that she deserves Mr. Elton, and doesn't need to accept the proposal from Robert Martin, a farmer whom Harriet obviously likes.

Harriet begins to like Mr. Elton after Emma talks highly of him often to her. Although, Emma finds her self in a  mess when Mr. Elton confesses his feelings are for her, and not for Harriet. Emma's brother in law and true friend, Mr. Knightley, thinks that rather than Mr. Elton, Mr. Martin would be a better match for Harriet, after all he already likes her and it's obvious that Harriet was very attracted to him. Through this time, Emma and Mr Knightley argue over who Harriet should be with, and Emma still obsessed with matching her friend to a gentleman does not give in to believing Mr Martin would suit Harriet better. Mr. Elton, at this time is deeply offended by Emma's actions and leaves and marries a girl in Bath.

Mr Weston's son, Frank Churchill moves into town and Mr. Knightley is almost immediately suspicious of him. Particularly because he hasn't visited his father a lot recently, apparently due to his aunt's illness, and he rushes back to London just to have his hair cut. However, Emma, not knowing much about him, believes his charms are aimed at her and disregards his unusual behaviour. Another character, Jane Fairfax, moves into Highbury and Emma does not like her as much, due to the fact (as the narrator says) that Jane is beautiful and accomplished and that Emma is jealous of her.

Mr. Knightley, intrigued, defends Jane and tells Emma that Jane is worthy of compassion as she has no independent fortune and soon will have to leave to work as a governess, unlike Emma. Mrs Weston suspects Mr. Knightley has feelings for Jane, but Emma disagrees. Many people also assume Emma and Frank are forming a relationship but Emma actually wants to set Frank up with Harriet, after she realises she doesn't want him for a suitor. At a village ball, Mr Knightley offers to dance with Harriet after she is humiliated by Mr. Elton and his new wife. The next day Frank saves Harriet from beggars. Harriet then proceeds to tell Emma she has fallen in love with a man in a social standing higher than her own and Emma believes this to be Frank. Mr. Knightley begins to suspect, however, that Jane and Frank are in a relationship and he warns Emma. Emma however rudely laughs at him and loses his approval when she is rude to her aunt at a picnic and flirts with Frank despite Mr. Knightley's previous warning.

After Frank's aunt dies, the novel finally begins to unravel the mysterious ties between Emma and her friends. It is revealed that Frank and Jane are in fact, secretly engaged and Franks charm towards Emma were an attempt at hiding their relationship. After his aunt dies, Frank now has his uncle's approval and can marry the woman he loves, Jane. Emma thinks Harriet will be crushed at this but she learns that the man Harriet had fallen in love with was Mr. Knightley, not Frank. Emma is upset by this confession which forces her to realise that she too has feelings for Mr Knightley. Emma expects Knightley to confess his love for Harriet, but he actually declares his love for Emma. Harriet is comforted by a second proposal from Robert Martin, which she accepts. The novel ends with the weddings of both Harriet and Robert and Emma and Mr. Knightley, with the narrator saying, "...the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union."

Many themes are important in this novel, such as marriage and social status. The themes reflect the period in which the novel was written but also allows the mind to open imagination. The book allows readers to decide for themselves who they think the love ties are between. In some places, i was reminded of Oscar Wilde's play, the importance of being Earnest, probably because of the tie of marriage and the name Fairfax.

I also love how the characters not only have different traits, but as the plot and characters develop you can see what traits they share also. These connections allow for the plot to thicken and for the reader to understand why certain characters fell for other characters.

Overall, whilst this book is fairly long and again written in a period where the language is quite extensive, the book has a good story line and is a very enjoyable comedy to read.