LoveReading Says
The classic Austen tale brought to life by one of Britain’s best loved actresses, Juliet Stevenson. Charming.
Abridged audiobook edition.
3 CDs
Running Time: 3h 45m
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Sense and Sensibility Synopsis
A tale of two sisters, Jane Austen's delightful comedy of manners centers on the novelist's favorite subjects: love and marriage. Elinor Dashwood takes a practical, rational attitude toward romance that contrasts sharply with the impulsive nature and idealistic views of her younger sister, Marianne. With keen observations and sparkling wit, Austen recounts the Dashwood sisters' struggles to balance passion with prudence. This portrait of life in a nineteenth-century English village depicts a world in which matters of the heart are complicated by issues of money, class, and public opinion—a world not too different from our own. Readers will treasure this keepsake edition of Austen's classic, which features more than sixty eloquent pen-and-ink drawings by a leading illustrator of the Victorian era, as well as the original Introduction by Joseph Jacobs.
About This Edition
About Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on 18 July 1817.
As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives.
Fellow novelist Katharine McMahon on Jane Austen...
I can't not choose her. And whichever I've read last is always my favourite. The nuance of emotion, the understanding of human nature revealed by Austen constantly delights me. When I reread Sense and Sensibility recently, for the first time Elinor came across as quite prissy and destined to marry a rather spineless husband. I wonder if that was intended?
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