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Synopsis

'Vanity, not love, has been my folly’

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

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Reviews

Customer Review: 14 August 2007

Reviewer: Rebecca

This is one of greatest books ever written. It is easy to dismiss this on first perusal as a mere love story, which will of course end happily, however, Jane Austen is not merely a writer of romantic fiction but an author who is providing readers with a commentary on the world that she saw around her. This book, although written in the early 19th Century, has many parallels with society of today. The premise in the book is that all girls (and their parents) were looking around in the marriage market for the best (i.e. wealthiest) husband they could find. Although that is true, modern day readers must remember that marriage was often the only 'career' for women in those days (or at least in the sphere that Jane Austen is writing about) and isn't that what women (and their parents) want today? The best career or opportunity available? What sets Pride & Prejudice apart from a book on the same subject today, is the wit and style that Jane Austen manages to layer through the story; she manages to provide a narration through the main character Elizabeth, which is both observant, thought-provoking and bitingly sardonic! Definitely one of the greatest novels ever written!

Critic Review:

‘Pride and Prejudice has always been the most popular of Jane Austen’s books … with its good humoured comedy, its sunny heroine, its dream denouement’ 
Claire Tomalin

‘These modern editions are to be strongly recommended for their scrupulous texts, informative notes and helpful introductions’
Brian Southam, the Jane Austen Society 

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