Sense and Sensibility

'I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but like every body else it must be in my own way.' When the Dashwood family are forced into more modest circumstances, sisters Marianne and Elinor also find themselves suddenly entangled in matters of the heart. Passionate and spirited, young Marianne falls for the charming but unreliable Mr Willoughby. Elinor, by contrast rational and sensible, forms a close bond with Edward Ferrars, but must cope stoically with the news that he is promised to another. Only through their shared experiences of love and loss do both sisters learn that the key to happiness comes from finding the perfect mixture of rationality and feeling. Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen's first published work when it appeared in 1811. It has become one of her most cherished novels and has been the subject of several adaptations for film and television.