Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility tells of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, two sisters who, with their mother and younger sister, are left with little money after their father's death and must leave their family home. Elinor is reserved and sensible, while Marianne is passionate and openly emotional.

As they settle in a modest cottage in Devon and meet new neighbours, both sisters encounter love and disappointment, and each tests the other's way of meeting the world. Austen's first published novel explores money, reticence and feeling in a society where women had few secure options.