Sense and Sensibility
Classic Fiction · No. 72 — Two sisters, two ways of having a heart.
- Classic Fiction
- 31 min
- Ages 10–14
- 6 chapters
About this audiobook
After their father's death, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, their mother, and younger sister must leave Norland when the estate passes to their half-brother John. At Barton Cottage, reserved Elinor quietly mourns Edward Ferrars, whose family expects him to marry wealth, while passionate Marianne falls openly for the dazzling John Willoughby. In London, Willoughby rejects Marianne and marries an heiress; Colonel Brandon reveals that Willoughby abandoned a vulnerable young woman and their child. Elinor meanwhile carries another person's secret: Lucy Steele has long been engaged to Edward. Edward keeps his promise even after his mother disinherits him, only for Lucy to marry his newly favored brother Robert instead. Marianne survives a dangerous fever and reconsiders the romance she mistook for character. Edward and Elinor are finally free to marry, and in time Marianne chooses the steadfast Brandon with clearer eyes.
Why it's worth a listen
Elinor Dashwood guards every feeling; her younger sister Marianne declares every feeling at once. When both fall in love with men who are not free to choose honestly, each sister discovers the cost of her own extreme. This is Jane Austen at once funny and piercing: a story of women made financially vulnerable by inheritance law, of promises that become traps, and of two sisters learning that good judgment and a full heart belong together.
A question to keep
Is strength the ability to hide what you feel, or to feel deeply without letting feeling rule you?
Chapters
- The Loss of Norland
- The Stranger in the Rain
- Secrets and Departures
- The Coldness of London
- The Breaking of the Storm
- A Question to Keep