Emma (Classic Book By You)

As Jane Austen states in the opening few words, Emma Woodhouse is handsome, clever and rich. The trouble is…she knows it. Her neighbour Mr Knightley does his best to stop her from making an idiot of herself, but it just doesn’t occur to Emma that she could ever be wrong. Emma believes that her new friend Harriet, who is of questionable birth, would be the perfect match for the very respectable vicar, and she is also delighted to hear the rumours that the girl she hates is interested in her best friend’s husband. Mr Knightley thinks a good dose of falling in love would sort Emma out. It looks like he’s about to get his wish.

This is probably my favourite book ever (though Pride & Prejudice and Black Lace do come very close), so I was very excited when BookByYou brought out a personalised version.

I love Emma. She’s so intelligent and so stupid at the same time. It’s like watching a PG rated car crash. It can be quite painful watching her insert her foot into her mouth, but there’s nothing too gruesome and it’s so much fun at the same time.

Jane Austen pokes fun at her characters and makes them look like idiots, but she always does this with great affection, even when they really are idiots. Harriet isn't very intelligent, but she's so well-meaning. Jane Fairfax does seem very cold, but Jane Austen cleverly throws in reasons for us to doubt Emma's opinion of her. John and Isabella Knightley are always fussing and moaning, but they're also always kind.

I first read Emma when I was fourteen and I didn’t really like it, but it’s a book that’s really grown on me as I’ve attempted to grow up, and I’m appreciating different characters each time I read it. Last time I read it, I fell in love with Mr Woodhouse (not in that way!). This time, I remembered Miss Bates in the original as being boring and annoying, but I absolutely loved her in my personalised book. She’s so funny and lovely.

Being in my favourite book really was an incredible experience. I wish I’d been able to be Emma, but I really enjoyed being Harriet. I don’t think I’m as stupid as Harriet is, but I do act like it sometimes.

Emma is quite a problematical novel to personalise. To begin with, the title on the front of the book is always going to be Emma, which wasn’t a problem for me, as I have a friend called Emma, to name her after. But there are probably a lot of people who have a book called Emma without a character called Emma in (I’m assuming Emma’s niece Emma always has the same name as her aunt). But this is no one’s fault but Jane Austen’s. She really should have looked into the future, I’m sure she’s clever enough.

One of Jane Austen’s jokes was, sadly, removed from the personalised edition. Mr Elton’s wonderfully objectionable wife calls him ‘Mr E’. BookByYou realised this would be a problem if a name not beginning with E was used in personalisation, and they solved this problem by referring to the character throughout by his full surname. It’s disappointing to lose the joke, but understandable why they did it. Late on in the book, Emma mentions Mrs Elton’s habit of calling her husband by his first initial, but although this might be confusing to anyone who doesn’t know the book, Mrs Elton is so full of objectionable behaviours, it’s no surprise to hear there are more.