Emma Woodhouse has just lost her former governess and favorite friend to marriage, and she is now a bored, lonely matchmaker looking for her next project. Harriet Smith is an agreeable, obedient acquaintance attending the local boarding school, with no known family or influences—the perfect pliable pupil. Emma tries to set her up with a man a bit out of reach, not realizing his own affections for her, despite the fact that she is determined not to be married. Then a handsome young man with a sharp tongue and wit comes to town and has Emma reconsidering her own resolve.
Emma by Jane Austen is a comedy of errors period piece about love, couples, matchmaking failures, and the interesting way life sometimes works out, with answers we seek being right next door. Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, period dramadies, or other romantic books about couples.
Perfect for fans of:
- Jane Austen
- Romantic dramas
- Romantic comedies
- Matchmaking
- English country life
- Period dramas
- Comedy of errors
- The movie Clueless, based on this book
The Recipe:
Typical wedding cakes of the time, like what was served for Miss Taylor’s wedding to Mr. Weston, involved a LOT of butter, sugar, eggs, dried fruits, almonds or other nuts and spices, almost like an American pound cake.
Rout-cakes were often served at the Highbury card parties. These were a drop-biscuit, cake-like cookie, often made with currants or oranges.
At tea, biscuits or cookies were often served, as well as baked apples and tarts.
Strawberries were plucked by the picnic group at the Abbey, said to be “the best fruit in England—everybody’s favorite.”
To combine these elements, I’ve made an easy vanilla cake mix cookie with fresh strawberries you can bake to eat while reading the book or having book club, or just because they’re so tasty.
Customization Tip: You can add any fresh or dried fruit you prefer, although any dried fruit or citrus shouldn’t need any extra sugar. For a lemon, lime, or orange variation, zest one whole fruit and add all the juice of the fruit to the mix. For a hard fruit like apple or pear, cook down the fruit first in a microwave or pan with a bit of butter until soft.
If you want to make this with a chocolate cake mix, you could, or with a strawberry cake mix for double the strawberry flavor.
Easy Strawberry Vanilla Cake Cookies Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 box vanilla cake mix (can substitute white cake mix, chocolate, strawberry, or lemon if preferred)
- 1/2 cup melted butter or oil (vegetable, canola, coconut, or a very light olive)
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional, if using white cake mix or any but vanilla, or for extra vanilla flavor)
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced very small (quartered, then halved, then diced)
- 2 tbsp sugar
Instructions:
- Wash your strawberries with a wet paper towel, then set them on another to dry. Dice strawberries very small by quartering each strawberry, than halving that, then dicing into about 2-3 pieces (about a half inch each, as pictured).
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together cake mix, melted butter, and vanilla (if using). In a separate small bowl, toss the strawberries with the sugar. When the cake mix and butter are combined, add the eggs, one at a time. Stop the mixer to scrape down the insides of the bowl, then restart and make sure eggs are fully incorporated. Then add the diced strawberries and mix on a pulsing (off and on) low speed for one minute, or gently fold in the strawberries with a spatula. Then place the bowl in the fridge for at least half an hour, up to one hour, covered with cling wrap.
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly spray them with nonstick cooking spray. Scoop dough using a small ice cream scoop into 1 inch balls and place at least 2″ apart on baking sheets.
- Refrigerate or freeze for 5-10 minutes before baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow them to cool slightly (about 5 minutes) on the baking sheets before moving them to a cooling rack. Makes about 30 small cookies.
Discussion Questions:
- Mr. Woodhouse had a habit of “never being able to suppose anyone could feel differently from him.” How did this lead to complications sometimes for Emma, or anyone who wanted to do anything contrary to what he wished? Do you know anyone like this?
- Mr. Knightley “was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them.” Why do you think this was? What were they?
- Harriet was “only desiring to be guided by any one she looked up to.” Why was this a problem? Was Jane Fairfax the same when it came to Mrs. Elton?
- Emma thought that if a woman doubted whether or not she should marry a man, then it was a sign not to marry him. Did this turn out to be wise advice for Harriet regarding Mr. Martin? Do you agree or disagree with her advice unilaterally, or is it dependent on the case? What about her advice that she should marry a man whom she thought was “the most agreeable man you have ever been in company with, and if you prefer him to every other person”?
- How did Emma’s advice to Harriet about Mr. Martin’s proposal differ from Mr. Knightley’s advice to Mr. Martin? Why? Who was ultimately right and wisest?
- Til Emma chose to be her friend, Harriet’s mind “had no distaste for her own set, nor any ambition beyond it. She was as happy as possible…she had no superiority then.” Does that mean Emma was a bad friend to her? Is contentment one of the secrets to happiness? Might Harriet have been happier if Emma hadn’t interfered?
- What was the answer to Mr. Elton’s riddle, Charade? For whom was it really intended?
- Why is it that “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasure of the other”?, for example, the poor and the wealthy?
- What sorts of things made Frank’s aunt Mrs. Churchill so disagreeable (“expecting everything to be as she likes,” her temper, and her “illnesses for her convenience”)?
- How could Mrs. Churchill “make no sacrifice for the comfort of her husband, to whom she owes everything, while she exercises incessant caprice towards him, she should frequently be governed by the nephew, to whom she owes nothing at all”?
- Do you agree with Mr. Knightley that Frank Churchill has learnt to “be above his connections, and to care very little for anything above his own pleasure, from living with those who have always set him the example of it”?
- Why didn’t Emma like Jane Fairfax? What changed her mind?
- Is it accurate that as Frank Campbell said to Emma, “One cannot love a reserved person”, or as Emma replies, “not till the reserve ceases towards oneself”?
- Do you think that Emma’s “sensation of listlessness, weariness, stupidity, this disinclination to sit down and employ myself, this feeling of every thing’s being dull and insipid about the house” was as a result of true feelings of love for Franck Churchill? What made her think she was “not very much in love”?
- “They say everybody has been in love once in their lives, and I have been let off easy” Emma stated about Frank. Do you think at any point he loved her as well? Do you think this quote of hers is accurate in general? Why did she later say that “the fever was over”?
- Of whom in this novel is it true that “…it is not every man’s fate to marry the woman who loves him best”?
- What did Mr. Knightley mean by “No, Emma, I do not think the extent of my admiration for her will ever take me by surprise. I never had a thought of her in that way, I assure you”?
- With whom did Mr. Knightley choose to dance first? Why do you think that was?
- What items from Mr. Elton did Harriet keep? Why? Have you or anyone you’ve known kept mementos from a boyfriend or girlfriend?
- If you were asked by Emma to say “one thing very clever, or two things moderately clever, or three things dull,” what would you say? What awful thing did this game lead Emma to say about Miss Bates?
- Is it true what Frank said about the Eltons, that “It is only by seeing women in their own homes, among their own set, just as they always are, that you can form any just judgment. Short of that, it is all guess and luck…How many a man has committed himself on a short acquaintance, and rued it all the rest of his life”? Have you known anyone who jumped into a relationship or infatuation too soon and got hurt? Are exceptions to this rare?
- Which characters was it true of them that “…it can only be weak, irresolute characters, (whose happiness must always be at the mercy of chance,) who will suffer an unfortunate acquaintance to be an inconvenience, an oppression for ever”? Is this a true statement in life, and have you known anyone who fit this description?
- What was Frank Churchill’s secret?
- What did Mrs. Elton have to say about Emma’s engagement? Why do you think she behaved this way?
Similar Books:
Other completed books by Jane Austen are the most popular Pride and Prejudice, as well as Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and the unfinished work, Sanditon.
Books mentioned within this one are The Vicar of Wakefield, The Romance of the Forest, Adelaide and Theodore, and The Children of the Abbey.
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is also about a stubborn, opinionated young woman who is a bit snobbish, and her social misunderstandings, especially regarding love. She inherits and maintains her family farm, doing the job a woman usually wouldn’t and upending customs in the process, and often ignoring the kind, wise advice of a local shepherd, her oldest friend. She also spurns to be married or engaged, until an alluring man changes her mind. The character Gabriel is also a little like Mr. Martin.
Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy by Flora Thompson that begins with the book Lark Rise, about a tightly knit community and its dramas as seen through the eyes of a young woman. It also paints a vivid picture of English country life.
The relationship of Polly and Fanny in Louisa May Alcott’s An Old-Fashioned Girl is similar to that of Emma and Harriet in this novel.
© 2020 Amanda Lorenzo