Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Emma: A Modern Retelling
    Emma: A Modern Retelling
    Emma: A Modern Retelling
    Audiobook10 hours

    Emma: A Modern Retelling

    Written by Alexander McCall Smith

    Narrated by Susan Lyons

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An unstoppable combination: Alexander McCall Smith and Jane Austen, as Sandy modernizes the story of Emma Woodhouse. Emma Woodhouse's widowed father is an anxious man, obsessed with nutrition and the latest vitamins. He lives the life of a country gentleman in contemporary England, protectively raising his young daughters, Isabella and Emma. While Isabella grows into a young woman, marries a society photographer for Vogue at the age of 19 and gets down to the business of reproducing herself, Emma pursues a degree in interior design at university in Bath, and then returns to set up shop in her home village. With her educated eye for the coordination of pattern and colour, Emma thinks she can now judge what person would best be paired with another, and sets about matchmaking her young friend, Harriet, with various possible suitors. Little does she know she is not the only person encouraging romantic pairings in the village. As Emma's cupid-like curiosity about her neighbours, both young and old, moves her to uncover their deeper
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 7, 2015
    ISBN9781490684147
    Emma: A Modern Retelling
    Author

    Alexander McCall Smith

    Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the award-winning series The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and he now devotes his time to the writing of fiction, including the 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie series. He is the author of over eighty books on a wide array of subjects, and his work has been translated into forty-six languages. Before becoming a full-time writer he was for many years Professor of Medical Law at Edinburgh.

    More audiobooks from Alexander Mc Call Smith

    Related to Emma

    Titles in the series (2)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Missing Keys

      May 7, 2023

      The Missing Keys
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Stackpole Legend

      Mar 1, 2024

      The Stackpole Legend
      13 min read

    • Article

      Psychics

      Jan 12, 2022

      Psychics
      10 min read

    • Article

      Psychics

      Jan 12, 2022

      Psychics
      9 min read

    • Article

      Psychics

      Jan 12, 2022

      Psychics
      10 min read

    • Article

      Trapped In A Dream

      Jul 2, 2023

      Trapped In A Dream
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Free Will of Professor Sturmhauser

      Jul 10, 2023

      Professor Sturmhauser stands in front of his students, looking focused and casually in command—it’s a good disguise. Now he’s pacing back and forth, tossing a pen in the air and saying this: “If you take the measure of your will, what do you think yo

      18 min read

    • Article

      Coming home

      Oct 13, 2022

      Coming home
      16 min read

    • Article

      A Rear Old Time

      May 9, 2021

      A Rear Old Time
      7 min read

    • Article

      Over To You

      Mar 15, 2022

      We pay £50 for Letter of the Month and £30 for all others What a relief it was to read “A World Of Worry”. Recent events have been incredibly challenging for everyone and I have noticed the impact on my own mental wellbeing. Like Meredith Arthur, I t

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Loading Brush

      Sep 1, 2017

      The Art of Loading Brush
      27 min read

    • Article

      Hats Off To The Bush

      Nov 20, 2019

      Hats Off To The Bush
      7 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Corner

      Jul 26, 2023

      So little, England. Little music. Little art. Timid, tasteful, nice. But one loves it. Loves it. You see I can say I love London. I can say I love England. I can’t say I love my country. I don’t know what that means. The Guy Burgess character in Alan

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Time To Sow

      Jun 22, 2023

      A Time To Sow
      6 min read

    • Article

      Sophie Lee On Returning Home

      Apr 30, 2022

      For this expat Australian living in London, Covid magnified isolation, warped time and fuelled a desperate need to see loved ones back home. I dug deep into inner reserves of patience and counted down the days. Confined in North London, our nuclear f

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Flynns’ Effect

      Aug 11, 2019

      The Flynns’ Effect
      7 min read

    • Article

      What David Foster Wallace Ate

      Sep 12, 2018

      What David Foster Wallace Ate
      8 min read

    • Article

      Something Like Vertigo

      Aug 17, 2017

      Something Like Vertigo
      12 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Emma

    3.5/5

    370 ratings178 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Jane Austen's Emma has the distinction of being one of the few novels that I have greatly enjoyed, despite thoroughly disliking its heroine. The vain Miss Woodhouse, whose bumbling attempts at matchmaking lead to such distress for her friends and acquaintances, is perhaps best appreciated as a comic character. As a romantic heroine however, she is appalling...Despite my impatience with the titular character, Emma is a wonderful novel, as engrossing as it is entertaining, told with Austen's inimitable charm and wit. The characterization of Miss Bates is particularly amusing, although the author never descends to the malice shown by her main character. All-in-all, well worth the reader's attention.
    • 5/5
      Took me about a year to finish reading it due to other more easy reading books. But towards 2/3 of the book, I was hooked proper. I laughed at every other delightful sentence that graced its pages. How marvellous it must be not read to books written in terse, choppy sentences that are lining up our bookshelves these days. This is the first Jane Austen novel I've finished reading and I'm starting on my next. Hopefully, it'll take less than a year to complete reading the second one.
    • 5/5
      Emma, Emma, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. (Until you get over yourself, that is.) And the great thing is, the story's written so brilliantly that even while you're wishing you could wring the title character's neck, you're having the time of your life reading about her.
    • 4/5
      A lovely read. I found some parts (especially about mothers and motherhood) particularly spot-on and powerful. A bit heart-breaking, and altogether a beautiful story. The writing is not great literature, but is a much higher standard than most chick lit. You can really feel that it has been written by a mother with a lot of love in her heart, a good deal of experience understanding people, and with a lot to say. I am glad that I read it.
    • 5/5
      Austen's best work. Emma's very believable heroine -- witty and intelligent, but flawed with self-importance. The story itself concerns rich kid Emma fancying herself a matchmaker and deals with the difficulty of reading the feelings of others. Emma undergoes a greater transformation than any of Austen's other heroines as she learns empathy, kindness, and the power of riddles.The Gwyneth Paltrow film version was pretty good but, as usual, the book is much, much better. If you liked Pride and Prejudice, you'll love Emma.
    • 5/5
      Exquisite. That is about all I have to say. Exquisite.
    • 5/5
      I have just finished reading this book and I really enjoyed it. Jane Austen is one of my favourite writers and Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourite books. Thus, I decided to read this book and I must say that I was not at all disappointed. Emma is an interesting character, and even though she seems to have it all (she is “handsome, clever, and rich”), she still has some flaws that make her likeable and that make the plot engaging. The reader observes from the beginning that the protagonist is rather spoiled and that she overestimates her own matchmaking skills. She thinks that she has the talent to find suitable husbands for her friends. However, as the story proceeds, one can see that she has no real talent for matchmaking and that she rather causes a lot of heartache and misunderstandings. That’s because she thinks highly of herself and doesn’t want to listen to anybody. In the end, she realizes the damage she has done and realizes that she is in love. Emma undergoes an emotional transformation and acknowledges her faults and that’s why I like her so much. Overall, I really like the book because of its themes, the likable characters and the plot.
    • 4/5
      This is a modern retelling of Austen’s Emma set in modern times that remains pretty faithful to the original novel with just a few changes in the ending. Emma is very well portrayed as the snobbish, smug, self-entitled meddlesome young woman who comes to an awakening of her character flaws and has the courage and decency to face up to them and improve.
    • 4/5
      Smart, enjoyable read. Not much exuberant passion is displayed by Austen, but it lays beneath the words.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful book true reflections of Jane Austen's work. Loved it for the classiness of it but then Jane is one of my favorite authors. A story woven around the matchmaker's mind.
    • 4/5
      I love Jane Austen and everything she's written, but out of all her books this one is my least favorite. Emma differs from other Austen heroines in that she doesn't really have to overcome any barrier of class or fortune, and she is the primary cause of all her problems, as she realizes near the end of the novel. This does not make her an unlikable character - just one I had a harder time relating to and sympathizing with. I also never really fell in love with Mr. Knightley, who seemed more like a disapproving father than a love interest. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed this book and like the characters - but the fact that I had a harder time relating to the main characters and the frustration I felt with Emma kept me from getting into it as much as I did her other novels.
    • 4/5
      Emma Woodhouse sets out to be a matchmaker for her single female friends although her efforts are not very successful. This story chronicles the day to day life of women in the Regency period. Emma shows a few characteristics of an early feminist movement by trying to show that women do not need to be married to be happy. This is a classic tale and one of my favorite Austen novels.
    • 4/5
      OK - thankfully, it got better. The first part of the book was torturous - Emma was an unbearable snobbish brat. The book improved once Jane Fairfax and Frank Church entered the picture. And I must confess a major crush on Mr. Knightley.I think I read too much, however, because I knew who was going to hook up with who from the very beginning. I had all the couples properly paired -- maybe I should be a matchmaker!Emma was bratty - although she seemed to improve a bit by the end. I'm glad I don't have to hang out with her in real life, but at least she demonstrated some redeeming qualities.
    • 1/5
      I really didn't find Emma to be a sympathetic character - she's so condescending and self-centered. She does grow throughout the novel, but I didn't grow to like her any better. I think part of the problem is my personal bias against the social norms described in the novel; I just can't stand the class-ism or the obvious scorn for people who work for a living. Maybe I hate it because I have to work for a living, which would make me an outcast in this society!
    • 4/5
      Love this book and the way Emma is determined to never fall in love and yet does with her best friend. What a fun story and the characters and the romance is great.
    • 5/5
      Jane Austen's "Emma" is another of her great romance novels. The heroine in this case is Emma Woodhouse -- a rich woman who runs her father's household and has no real inducements to marry. She has a high opinion of her own opinions and sets about matchmaking for a friend in much more uncertain circumstances than she is. All this could mesh together into an insufferable main character, but Emma is completely charming and likeable, even when her behavior is infuriating. Her gradual realization of where her own hopes lay and to her blindness about others is the heart of this wonderful book. The book is so well-written that the characters seem to leap off the page (which is why there are so many film adaptations, I suppose.) I think this is one of Jane Austen's best (though not quite equal to "Pride and Prejudice."
    • 3/5
      Austen set out to have a main character that no one would like,and she succeeded. I didn't begin to enjoy the book until around page 220, after which I began to appreciate the humor while still disliking almost all of the characters.
    • 4/5
      The thing I like most about Emma is the fact that she is not perfect, like a lot of other novel characters. What adds to that, is the fact that, as a reader, you pick up on a lot of things that Emma doesn't realize, so you can sort of gloat about her naivety. The mini-series that was recently made is very good, and for me added to the fun I had while rereading the book.
    • 4/5
      As can be assumed, this is one of my favourite books! Emma Woodhouse is a typical Austen heroine- flawed- but unlike the other heroines, she doesn't mess up her own life, but the lives of almost everyone else around her. From her misideas on love and romance to her careless tongue, Emma causes more damage and emotional upheval than a young, rich, well-intentioned woman should. In the final analysis though, Emma Woodhouse finds true love for herself, leaving everyone else to sort out their lives and make their own happiness.
    • 3/5
      I had a hard time reading this book because I really disliked the main character, Emma. She seemed like such a snob that it wasn't much fun reading about her. I also didn't care much for Austen's style of dialogue. Even the action in the story took place only in dialogue. It was interesting to discover quiet early on that the movie Clueless was based on this book. I had no idea!
    • 5/5
      After reading and loving Pride and Prejudice, I decided to really take my time with Emma and thought it wouldn't come anywhere close to P&P. I am surprised to say that I liked it even better! Having seen a couple of the video adaptions of this, I was already familiar with the story and knew all the major plot points. What you don't get as well in the movies however is the incredible transformation in Emma's way of thinking. It was so beautifully written and yet was also incredibly funny. I loved every single character (even the annoying ones) for what they brought to the story. Also, Mr. Knightley was just completely wonderful. Overall, I have to say that Emma is my new favorite novel. It had everything I want out of a book.
    • 2/5
      The main character in this book is very controlling and the effects which her personality weilds can definately be seen in life. I didn't realli enjoy this book because i disliked the heroine and although i liked the ending and thought that the events were very realictic i like Jane Austen's other books are a lot better.
    • 4/5
      Emma is a lovable character even with all her faults and misjudgments. She seems to be forever misjudging people and putting her own ideas in place of the reality. She attempts to match make on behalf of her friends but does not do so well at it. In the end it is her own match that secures the happy ending.
    • 3/5
      ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is my favourite book. I have read it numerous times, and have always wanted to try some of Austen’s other books. I chose ‘Emma’ next as I had heard of the basic plot before, therefore was coming in with some basic understanding of it.I had the misfortune of seeing the end of some sort of tele-movie of the book shortly after I began it, which revealed how everything turned out in the end. ‘Pride and Prejudice’, although I always know the ending, is always just as gripping the second or third time round. However, knowing how the book was going to end, I found that ‘Emma’ did not bring on that same excitement- I simply felt I was holding out for the end, so could confirm what I knew. A part of the plot is a secret held by a few of Emma’s friends. A few subtle hints were meant to be dropped during the book, and than all tied together neatly at the end. These, to me, gave that secret away all too much. There was no surprise when it was revealed- a moment which may have been anticipated throughout the book. This, however, may be different if I had not known what was to happen.Emma is obviously the main character of the book. Towards the end, I began to like her more, but to begin with, I found her rather frustrating. She was always looking down on others- talking of how her friend Harriet should not marry a certain man as he was beneath Harriet and Emma would never visit her if she did accept his proposal. She is a very real character, as are all those who surrounds her, and you join in her agitation in having to tolerate an over-talkative neighbour, and another who believes she is well above her rank. You join in her frustration as she realises that she has done wrong and as she tries to find a way to put things right again. Finally, you join in her joy as everything is as it should be and she has learnt her lesson. In that sense, it is a book that has been very skilfully written, which is to be expected from an author such as Austen.Many people may find that the language and grammar of the times is a little too much to fully comprehend. If defiantly throws me sometimes, but it is easy to conquer this and if you get through, you will find another great story told with the developed characters and woven with full emotion and subtle humour just as Jane Austen created in ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
    • 4/5
      I rated this high because I appreciate it from a historic literary standpoint, but I HATED THIS BOOK.
    • 4/5
      A classic I never got around to reading until it came up as a freebie download on my Kindle. In honor of my daughter Emma, who is NOT named after Miss Emma Woodhouse, who turned out to be a very poor match-maker.
    • 3/5
      Did it in school and never loved it as much as I loved Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility.Still a funny, engaging well-written book that is on my re-read list.
    • 5/5
      All Jane Austen books should be re-read on a continual basis. Thoroughly enjoyable and lighthearted. Pair with Masterpiece Theater for great results.
    • 2/5
      The book was published in 1816 so I expected the language and plot to be difficult to understand yet this was not the case. The book was extremely easy to understand, the plot is all but given away on the back cover, and the main character is an idiotic young woman of 20 some years. The many themes are all easily gleaned as they are simply the morals Emma learns the hard way, by making mistakes. The book is written in omniscient 3rd person and is set in the countryside of England, 1816. The first thing that stuck out at me from the book was this quote; “There is so pointed and so particular a meaning in this comment”, said she [Emma], “that I cannot have a moment’s doubt as to Mr. Elton’s intentions. You are his object, -- and you will soon receive the completest proof of it” (64). It encompasses the moral of the story that Jane Austen so unsubtly repeats throughout the book: don’t assume you’re right and know that you cannot control people’s hearts.The first two themes are the following: try to not allow your imagination to cause you to create misunderstandings and mistakes and don’t beat about the bush with fanciful language. Each is exhibited with the fiasco of the charade from Mr. Elton (62). He should have thought about Emma reading it in front of her friend since the two were always joined at the hip, that’s just a bad way to go about telling a girl you like her. There is also another quote about mistakes that struck me; “Seldom, very seldom does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken; but where, as in this case, though the conduct is mistaken, the feelings are not, it may not be very material” (388). After some thought, I realized that the author meant that even though we make mistakes in communication we can always make up for it with emotions like love. Love conquers all, with all including miscommunication. This idea was one of the few in the book that to me shows the writing I expected of Austen. It was something I had to think about to understand, and was very enjoyable.Examples of Austen’s last two themes are straight out spoken in a conversation between Mr. Knightly and Emma. They each believe that a couple, in marriage, must be equal, neither higher than the other; and that people should make marriages for love rather than simple connections. Later at least, Emma realizes the first, when she sees Harriet is not all that higher than Martin, and she would do no wrong to marry the one she loves.There are many characters in Austen’s book and sometimes I found it hard to keep track of an entire town, but that made it a bit more interesting. The second most important character of the book, although Emma was the only main character, was Mr. Knightly. I loved him because he made so much sense. His one mistake was to think that Emma was as smart as he was. He knew the truth of things long before her and had to teach her like a child, when she was over 20, the things he already easily figured out. I thought he deserved better than her and that their relationship was a bit weird. It seemed at the beginning that he was her older brother and brother in law isn’t much different. I know it is back when marrying your cousin is okay but I don’t have to like it.Emma was an okay read but it lowered my expectations. I’m eager to see if Austen’s other books, like Pride and Prejudice, are superior.
    • 5/5
      Jane Austen. Enough said - the greatest of romance writers.