Pride and Prejudice

An Apple Books Classic edition.

Jane Austen’s beloved classic opens with this witty and very memorable line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” With all the twists and turns of a soap opera, Pride and Prejudice chronicles the drama that ensues when the wealthy bachelor Mr. Darcy moves close to the Bennet family home in the English countryside. The news of his arrival sends the socially ambitious Mrs. Bennet-whose main concern is finding suitable matches for her five daughters-into overdrive.

The book’s main character, the high-spirited Elizabeth Bennet, is a strikingly modern heroine: a woman who refuses to lower her expectations or transform herself to suit society’s norms. Austen’s novel achieves a remarkable balance, serving up barbed criticism of the obsession with money, status, and matrimony even as it draws us into a swoon-worthy love story. At its heart, Pride and Prejudice is a romantic comedy, and a darned great one at that. It’s so much fun to turn the pages and wonder about Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy: Will they or won’t they overcome their excessive pride and initial prejudices to make a happily-ever-after connection?