Sense and Sensibility

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 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.