Jane Austen

When Mr. Dashwood dies, he leaves his second wife and her three daughters at the mercy of his son and heir, John. John's wife convinces him to turn his step-mother and half-sisters out, and they move to a country cottage, rented to them by a distant relative. In their newly reduced circumstances Elinor and Marianne, the two eldest daughters, wrestle with ideas of romance and reality and their apparent opposition to each other. Elinor struggles in...

Mansfield Park is a study of three families-the Bertrams, the Crawfords, and the Prices-with the isolated figure of the heroine, Fanny Price, at its center. Fanny's quiet passivity, her steadfast loyalty and love for the son of the family who regard her as the poor relation, and who have taken her under their roof, are not appreciated until they are tried against the brilliant and witty Mary and Henry Crawford, the unfortunate consequences of whose...

When Catherine Morland, a country clergyman's daughter, is invited to spend a season in Bath with the fashionable high society, little does she imagine the delights and perils that await her. Captivated and disconcerted by what she finds, and introduced to the joys of 'Gothic novels' by her new friend, Isabella, Catherine longs for mystery and romance. When she is invited to stay with the beguiling Henry Tilney and his family at Northanger Abbey,...

Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon (1817) tells the story of a quaint seaside village and its inhabitants. Charlotte Heywood is invited by Mr. and Mrs. Parker to stay the summer with them at Sanditon, where Mr. Parker spent his youth and where he now wants to create a tourist resort. While there, Charlotte gets to know and observe the many colorful residents of Sanditon, including the wealthy, twice-widowed Lady Denham; her ward, Clara Crereton,...

Though Jane Austen is best known for her string of classic novels published from 1811 to 1816, she also produced a small but significant collection of short fiction and sketches in her brief lifetime. In this 1922 volume of works collected from Austen's "Juvenilia," learn how her writing style first developed by exploring some of her most important early works. Included are the 1790 story "Love and Freindship" (in which Austen's signature wit can...

Jane Austen wrote the untitled fragment that was later called The Watsons in 1803-5, and it was published posthumously in 1871. Joan Aiken, well known for her Jane Austen sequels and children's books, finishes the fragment, introducing a new hero and seamlessly continuing where Jane Austen left off to a satisfying ending for all Austen fans. Emma Watson returns home after 14 years spent with a beloved aunt, whose re-marriage has caused a significant...

Persuasion: "Anne Elliot is a young woman of perfect breeding and unwavering integrity. Austen wrote of her, 'She is almost too good for me.' Persuasion is the story of Anne and Captain Wentworth and their long awaited union. The world of country gentry in Regency England serves as a setting while portraying the many aspects of proper society - its failings and humor"--Container. Pride and prejudice: "A delightful novel about 'how girls catch husbands.'...

"The culmination of Jane Austen's genius, a sparkling comedy of love and marriage--now in a stunning 200th-anniversary Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Beautiful, clever, rich--and single--Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to...