Happily Ever After

Pride and Prejudice has a fair claim to being the world's favourite novel. Read and studied from Cheltenham to China, it has been translated into many languages and adapted into countless films. This book describes how Jane Austen wrote her masterpiece, its initial lukewarm reception and its gradually growing popularity. It examines its much-loved characters, its wicked irony, its brilliant structure and revolutionary use of free indirect speech, and its continuing power to inspire sequels, parodies and screen adaptations.