Jane Austen is undoubtedly one of the finest English novelists: she paints on a small canvas, but with the most exquisitely detailed touch. Her novels sparkle with wit and humour; she lightly but tellingly satirizes the vanity, selfishness and pretension of mankind while creating a splendid gallery of living characters.

Jane Austen's novels are all set in the narrow world of eighteenth-century society, but her deep understanding of human nature and her penetrating observation of its follies and absurdities are timeless. Her work is as funny and fascinating as when it first appeared, and she is deservedly ranked among the classic authors.