First published in 1816 and generally considered Jane Austen's finest work, Emma
is a humorous portrayal of a heroine whose injudicious interferences in the life of a young parlour-boarder
in a neighboring village often lead to substantial mortification. Austen brings to life a myriad of engaging
characters as she presents a mixture of social classes as she did in Pride and Prejudice. Her
two greatest comic characters are part of Emma's machinations-the eccentric Mr. Woodhouse and the
quintessential bore, Miss Bates.

Delightfully funny, Emma displays the shrewd wit and delicate irony which made Jane Austen a
master of the English novel. Although Austen thought that only she would like her witty, fanciful, self-deluded
heroine, Emma has gained the affection of generations of readers.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born at Steventon, England, and later moved to Bath. She began to write early for her own and her family's amusement. Her novels, set in her own English countryside, depict the daily lives of provincial middle-class families with wry observation, a delicate irony, and a good-humored wit. She is now considered by many scholars to be the first great woman novelist.

Nadia May has been nominated as an AudioFile Golden Voice five years running and is a winner of thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is the co-founder of TheatreFirst, a theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area where she currently lives.