Have you ever stood in an ocean? The little waves tug at your feet, attempting to pull you down, yet you are stronger than them and you're able to stand your ground. The waves start getting bigger and bigger, each one a little more force full than the last. Some make you stumble, others, almost make you collapse. Then, comes the largest wave, one so big it towers over you. You can see it coming from a mile away yet there is nothing you can do to stop it. You watch as it engulfs you, feel the water rip your feet from beneath. Water fills your lungs, strangling you from the inside. You desperately try to swim to the surface, but you only get dragged back down. That's how I felt. Even thou I was in the safety of my room with my mom holding me in place while I screamed. Tears swam down my face as I cried out. No one can prepare you for a broken heart; it is worse than any physical pain. It was September 17th 2013, that I learned I'd lost my best friend to depression.

Emma Woodhouse, aged 20 at the start of the novel, is a young, beautiful, witty, and privileged woman in Regency England. She lives on the fictional estate of Hartfield in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her elderly widowed father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones. Emma's friend and only critic is the gentlemanly George Knightley, her neighbour from the adjacent estate of Donwell, and the brother of her elder sister Isabella's husband, John. As the novel opens, Emma has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her best friend and former governess. Having introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband, Mr. Weston, Emma takes credit for their marriage, and decides that she rather likes matchmaking.

The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.