Jane Austen's 1811 novel follows the Dashwood sisters as they navigate love, heartbreak, and financial hardship in Georgian England. The fiction explores the contrast between Elinor's prudent reserve and Marianne's passionate romanticism as both seek happiness and security.
The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old Gentleman’s days were comfortably spent. His attachment to th…Continue reading →
A brilliant English novelist of the early 19th century, she crafted witty social comedies that exposed the constraints facing women in Regency England. Her six novels, including Pride and Prejudice and Emma, revolutionized literature with their sharp psychological insight and sparkling dialogue, establishing her as one of history's most beloved storytellers. All works by Jane Austen →
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