Sense and Sensibility

About the book

The Dashwood family's reduced income requires a new home and a careful adjustment of expectations. Elinor and Marianne respond differently to the change: one restrains the outward expression of feeling, while the other values emotional openness and intensity. Their attachments develop in a society where money, promises, and family interests exert pressure on apparently private decisions. Austen draws comedy from intrusive hospitality and confident gossip, while giving considerable attention to the work of protecting another person's feelings. The sisters' contrast never settles into a simple contest with an obvious winner. Instead, the novel follows the strain that each temperament experiences when affection meets uncertainty. Its romance is inseparable from an examination of dependence, discretion, and the practical forms that care can take.

• Sisterhood
• Feeling and restraint
• Economic dependence

Why read it

For the sympathetic balance between two temperaments and the sharp comedy surrounding them.

English text