Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility

Summary

Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are two strikingly different sisters. On their father's death, the Estate goes to their brother John who, encouraged his his wife, goes against his father's wishes of looking after his sisters and step-mother. They retire to a cottage in Devonshire, but not before Elinor and Edward Ferras become mutually attracted. In Devonshire Marianne falls desperately in love with John Willoughby, an attractive but unprincipled man. Each sister discovers that their suitors have become engaged to other women and the story centres on the different way they cope with this distress. All ends well, however, when Edward is released from his engagement and can marry Elinor, and Marianne is won over by an old admirer.

Abridged for Puffin Classics.
Also abridged: Pride and Prejudice

About the author

Jane Austen

Jane Austen, the daughter of a clergyman, was born in Hampshire in 1775, and later lived in Bath and the village of Chawton. As a child and teenager, she wrote brilliantly witty stories for her family's amusement, as well as a novella, Lady Susan. Her first published novel was Sense and Sensibility, which appeared in 1811 and was soon followed by Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Austen died in 1817, and Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1818.
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