Sense and Sensibility
Two sisters lose their income when their father dies, and the novel follows their very different ways of managing disappointment. Elinor hides what she feels; Marianne announces it. Austen's first published novel sets up the contrast and then complicates it, because both sisters are wrong about something important.
The book is sharper than its reputation. The opening chapters about inheritance are cold and exact, and the portrait of a family that talks about money while pretending not to is still recognisable. It is less polished than Pride and Prejudice, and in some ways more interesting.
Public-domain status
First published in 1811. In the United States, works published before 1930 are in the public domain. In the European Union the general term is the life of the author plus 70 years; Jane Austen died in 1817, so this work has been free to republish there since 1888.
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Keep reading
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