In a remote Hertfordshire village, a country squire of no great means must marry off his five vivacious daughters. At the heart of this all-consuming enterprise lies the erratic courtship of his second headstrong daughter, Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor - Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Emma Woodhouse imagines that she dominates those around her in the small town of Highbury, but her inept matchmaking creates problems for herself and others.
Jane Austen's final novel, 'Persuasion', is the story of Anne Elliot, intelligent daughter of a spendthrift baronet, and her love for Frederick Wentworth. Persuaded to refuse his proposition of marriage, Anne spends seven years unhappy until he re-enters her life.
Catherine Morland meets all the trappings of Gothic horror and imagines the worst. Disaster does eventually strike, as it does in the real world as distinct from the romantic one, but without spoiling the wonderful atmosphere of this story.
'Mansfield Park' is one of Austen's more sophisticated novels - together with the gently satirical depiction of polite society it exposes the ills of class prejudice, and before achieving the requisite happy ending, the people of Mansfield Park must cope with adultery, betrayal and social ruin.
Elinor, practical and conventional, is the epitome of sense; Marianne, emotional and sentimental, the embodiment of sensibility. Their trials in love bring a closer understanding between the two sisters, and true love triumphs as sense gives way to sensibility and sensibility gives way to sense.
Box set containing all of Jane Austen's published works.
Jane Austen is perhaps the best-loved of all English novelists. Her knowledge of human nature is remarkable, and her awareness of the importance of class, money and appearances makes her a peculiarly modern author. This book contains her novels with illustrations. It also contains pen-and-ink drawings.
Includes more than two hundred full colour illustrations.