Notes From Your Bookseller Jane Austen's sass and satire are always wonderful companions, and nowhere are they more prominent than in Emma, the story of a hapless matchmaker and her genuine attempts to spark love. It's heartfelt, hilarious and an endearing classic. A lively young heiress takes up matchmaking, and her schemes result in comic confusion for a social-climbing parson, a chatterbox spinster, an enigmatic Romeo, and other inhabitants of a 19th-century English village. Sparkling satire in one of Austen's finest novels Sparkling comedy of provincial manners concerns a well-intentioned young heiress and her matchmaking schemes that result in comic confusion for the inhabitants of a 19th-century English village. Droll characterizations of the well-intentioned heroine-one of Austen's immortal creations-and her hypochondriacal father-plus many other finely drawn personalities. This sparkling satire of provincial life is one of Jane Austen's finest novels. Editorial Reviews "Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." -EM Forster - From the Publisher Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." - EM Forster Austen's characters are unquestionably one key to her greatness." - Guardian (London) Jane Austen's novels have long been fodder for transference to other media. The same quality that makes such adaptation a good idea also makes it difficult--her elusive tone. When is she kidding? When serious? How to communicate what Sir Walter Scott called "that exquisite touch which renders ordinary, commonplace things and characters interesting?" Performance pros struggle with it as much as everybody else. For this reason, Prunella Scales's interpretation of Emma is most welcome. Scales "nails" it, as actors say. One of England's finest actresses, Scales hits the right note from the beginning and unerringly follows the author's amusing and insightful trajectory to the very end. There are no actorly pyrotechnics here, just Jane Austen, which is certainly good enough for me. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine - FEB/MAR 99 - AudioFile