Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice perfected the novel of manners, combining keen social observation with an ironic narrative voice that has delighted readers for over two centuries. Jane Austen's creation of Elizabeth Bennet — witty, principled, and fiercely independent — gave English literature one of its most iconic and continuing heroines. The novel's seemingly effortless balance of romantic comedy, moral seriousness, and social critique set a standard that subsequent novelists have aspired to ever since.

First appearing in 1813 against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, Pride and Prejudice depicts the domestic world of the English gentry with a precision and depth that influenced later masters of the novel including Henry James and E. M. Forster. The BBC's celebrated 1995 television adaptation and the 2005 film brought the novel to vast new audiences, and it consistently ranks as the most popular English novel in reader polls.