Sense and Sensibility
written by Jane Austen

More than seven years prior to the events in the novel, Anne Elliot fell in love with a handsome and ambitious, but poor, young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth. The Elliots, led by Sir Walter, Anne's father and lord of the family estate, were dissatisfied with her choice, feeling he was not distinguished enough for their family; her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's deceased mother, persuaded her to break off the match. Now age 27 and considered a spinster, Anne re-encounters her former fiance as he associates with the Musgrove family. Now Wentworth is an 'early' captain -and wealthy- due to his warfare successes in the Royal Navy, including his capture of prize-money (enemy) shipping; but he still harbors enmity towards Anne for her rejection of him. Meanwhile, the self-interested machinations of Anne's father, her older sister Elizabeth, Elizabeth's friend Mrs. Clay, and William Elliot, Anne's cousin and her father's heir, constitute important subplots.

The main character, Fanny Price, is a young girl from a relatively poor family, raised by her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. She grows up with her four cousins, Tom Bertram, Edmund Bertram, Maria Bertram and Julia, but is always treated as inferior to them; only Edmund shows her real kindness. He is also the most virtuous of the siblings: Maria and Julia are vain and spoiled, while Tom is an irresponsible gambler. Over time, Fanny's gratitude for Edmund's kindness secretly grows into romantic love.

Seventeen year old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is "in training for a heroine," and is excessively fond of reading Gothic novels of which Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho is a favorite.