Product Description

`It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.' Juliet Stevenson reads Jane Austen's best-loved tale of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1199 in Books
• Published on: 1994-02-24
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous, sensible, incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her sound like an insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a completely hip character who ,if provoked, is not above skewering her antagonist with a piece of her exceptionally sharp, yet always polite, 18th-century wit. The real point of the book though, the critical question which will keep you fixated throughout, is: will Elizabeth and Mr Darcy hook up? Read this genuine all-time classic and discover the answer while enjoying a story that has charmed generation after generation.

Synopsis
When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor, Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

About the Author
Fiona Stafford is the author of The Last of the Race: The Growth of a Myth from Milton to Darwin (Clarendon Press, 1994), Starting Lines in Scottish, Irish and English Poetry: From Burns to Heaney (OUP, 2000) and the editor of Lodore in the Complete Works of Mary Shelley. She is the editor of Austen's Emma in Penguin Classics.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic - a timeless classic
The plot and principal characters are well known. I read this possibly six times in school when I was 14. What emerges for me from reading this much later is that neither Elizabeth, nor Darcy are - initially at least - the perfect, but misunderstood human beings of the screen versions. Darcy, it is clear, is an insufferable snob and it is not at all clear that he ever gets past this. Yes, in the end he has no problem in accepting Elizabeth despite her relatively low social station - that is because he has fallen in love with her. But is he really as transformed as Elizabeth believes by the end of the novel? Does it even matter to her, as Elizabeth will now ascend to a higher social station anyway? Elizabeth is also utterly quick to judge and with Wickham for example, is blind to his faults despite the clear evidence of his mercenary motivations as amply pointed out to her by Mrs Gardiner. What one has to remember however is that Elizabeth is only 21 and Darcy probably no more than 26. They can be forgiven their failings (Elizabeth her prejudice, Darcy his pride and haughtiness) to some extent. This is a novel as much about growing up and reaching maturity, as it is about the danger of judging on first impressions.

Another aspect that one does not appreciate at 14 is the social background to the novel. It is a time of the emergence of mass consumerism in England and of rapid technological and economic innovation. England was the cradle of capitalism and here it is being perfected at this time. This is evident throughout the novel and money and all things money related are always part of the main event.

Although Austen was a master of the novel form, this is not a perfect novel. Compare for example the crisp, no nonsense, galloping opening chapters with some of the final chapters that completely belabour the Wickham episode and how they slow down the narrative and plot resolution. These minor criticisms aside, P&P is a stunning achievement by a literary genius and it will never lose its appeal.

Perfect!
Austen's best novel and one of the best in English Literature. A completely realistic and loveable cast of characters and one of the great love stories of all time. It should be compulsary to read this book.

Fabulous!
Although I don't look like a bookwormy type (unless you know me), this is my favorite book. I read it first aged 11 and now aged nearly 13, it continues to guide me. I own a much abused copy of all the jane austen books which I continue to read, even when in class, when I am reading it under the desk in Latin (which is no mean feat! Do you know how thick it is?!?) or when eat chocolate.

My favorite parts are when Lizzie realises that Mr Darcy isn't as bad as she think's he his, and he has actually secretly been helping her.


EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS!