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Sense and Sensibility

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When the Dashwood sisters lose their father, they also lose the security of the home around which their lives have been built. The estate passes to their half-brother, and promises of help diminish under the influence of his wife. Elinor, Marianne and their younger sister move with their mother to a cottage in Devonshire, where a smaller income makes the connection between affection, marriage and financial independence impossible to ignore.

Elinor tries to govern her feelings with discretion. Marianne regards emotional openness as a sign of sincerity and finds restraint difficult to admire. Their different temperaments shape their responses to Edward Ferrars, John Willoughby and Colonel Brandon, but Austen refuses to reduce either sister to a simple lesson. Elinor's quietness conceals pain; Marianne's impulsiveness coexists with generosity and genuine feeling. Each must discover what appearances and declarations can hide.

From country visits to London drawing rooms, the novel follows courtships complicated by earlier commitments, secrecy, money and social ambition. Lucy Steele's carefully managed confidences and the cheerful interference of Mrs Jennings create situations in which politeness can become both a protection and a burden. Austen's comedy is sharpest when people explain away their selfishness while congratulating themselves on their good sense.

At its centre, Sense and Sensibility is a story of sisters learning how to understand and support one another. Disappointment tests their convictions and shows that emotional truth is not always expressed dramatically, while composure is not the same as indifference. The book's enduring force comes from its attention to the work of living with others: keeping a confidence, recognising a kindness, bearing uncertainty and deciding when feeling should be spoken. Romance matters throughout, but the sisters' relationship gives the novel its most sustained emotional continuity.