Have you ever wondered about coincidences, apparent allusions, and other mysterious elements that appear in the plots of Jane Austen's novels? In this special episode of First Impressions, we welcome Austen scholar Arnie Perlstein to share his revolutionary ideas about the "shadow stories" in Austen's works. We discuss the theory of shadow stories in detail, and Arnie presents his theories about the shadow stories in Emma, including the real parentage of that new baby of Mrs. Weston's, and why Frank's aunt dies conveniently just at the right time!

If you want to get Arnie's thoughts without all the questions, comments and digressions introduced into the podcast by Kristin and Maggie, you can find his blog at http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/. You can also follow him on twitter @JaneAustenCode.