How many words are in Emma?
by Jane Austen · 1815 · Literary Fiction
157,562
Word count
11 hr 2 min
Reading time
631
Est. pages
1815
Published
Emma by Jane Austen is approximately 157,562 wordslong. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that's about 11 hr 2 min of reading spread across several sittings. First published in 1815, it sits in the Literary Fiction category.
Typical literary fiction novels run 70,000–100,000 words, with a sweet spot around 80,000–90,000. At 157,562 words, Emma runs longer than the typical range, in epic territory.
Source: Word count computed from the Project Gutenberg plain-text edition (eBook #158, public domain) · referenceVerified 2026-06-21
Literary Fiction novels of similar length
| Title | Author | Word count |
|---|---|---|
| Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | 157,969 |
| Mansfield Park | Jane Austen | 159,717 |
| Tess of the d'Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy | 150,043 |
| The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | 169,481 |
| A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | 135,420 |
| Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | 183,858 |