"Beautiful, clever, rich--and single--Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than 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 protegee, Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With...

Norton's third edition (previous editions, 1972 and 1993) based on Austen's 1816 edition, has a background section with letters to Austen's sister, Cassandra; an excerpt describing a country ball from "The Watsons" (a novel fragment); V. Woolf's commentary on "The Watsons"; and two biographical sketches of Austen by family members. Reviews and criticism include 16 assessments of the novel and critical overviews by Sir Walter Scott, George Henry Lewes,...