Sense and Sensibility

Beautifully told by Anna Massey, this is the engaging story of sisters Elinor and Marianne, whose lives are turned upside down when they are left almost penniless following the death of their father. Two men with whom the sisters form attachments present more unforeseen challenges along the way.

Jane Austen’s first published novel concerns the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and their different responses to love and loss: Elinor the exemplar of self-control – “sense” – and Marianne governed by her passionate “sensibility.” Partly a comment on the financial situation of women in her time, Austen paints a poignant portrait of the two sisters who, in reduced circumstances, find more kindness from strangers than from their own brother.