Season 4: Emma

From 22 February 2023 to 10 June 2024, we read through Emma (there were some big gaps between episodes, due to unforseen circumstances). In every episode, we covered approximately five chapters of the book, and also looked at one character in detail, and some aspect of the historical context. Each episode finished with a discussion about one or more of the adaptations (or modernisations or continuations or variations) of the book.

EpisodeCharacterHistoricalPopular culture
Episode 1: Chapters 1-5Mr WoodhouseBoarding schoolsEmma (1972, BBC)
Episode 2: Chapters 6-10The Martin familyVicars and parish business Emma (1996, Miramax)
Episode 3: Chapters 11-15 Mr EltonApothecariesEmma (1996, ITV)
Episode 4: Chapters 16-21 Miss BatesArmy widows and orphansEmma (2009, BBC)
Episode 5: Chapters 22-26Mr and Mrs WestonSocial structure and practicesEmma (2020, Working Title)
Episode 6: Chapters 27-31 Harriet SmithIllegitimacyClueless (1995, Paramount)
Episode 7: Chapters 32-36Mrs EltonGovernesses Emma Approved (2013, Pemberley Digital)
Episode 8: Chapters 37-41 Mr KnightleyPoverty and the labouring classesThe Emma Agenda (2017, Quip Modest Productions)
Episode 9: Chapters 42-45Emma WoodhouseWatering placesReflecting on screen adaptations
Episode 10: Chapters 46-50Frank Churchill Regency gentlemen Book modernisations
Episode 11: Chapters 51-55Jane FairfaxMagistratesRetellings from another point of view

Map of Highbury

When preparing for this season of the podcast, we came across the below hypothetical map of Highbury, created by Professor Penny Gay of the University of Sydney, and reproduced with her permission.

Hypothetical map of Highbury, by Penny Gay

The map was drawn in the 1980s and published in Penny Gay’s work Jane Austen’s Emma (Horizon Studies in Literature) Sydney University Press, 1995. More information about it is available in ‘A Hypothetical Map of Highbury‘, Persuasions Online, Volume 36, No. 1, Winter 2015.

Map of locations

Below is a Google map of the places mentioned in Emma, including approximate locations of the houses.

Colour coding:

  • Blue is Knightleys and Woodhouses
  • Red is Westons and Churchills
  • Yellow is Campbells, Dixons and Jane Fairfax
  • (Orange is used for Weymouth, where Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax met)
  • Purple is Eltons
  • Brown is Martins
  • Green is other locations mentioned, visited or lived in