Austen’s first published novel, which appeared under the pseudonym “A Lady,” is the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, and of the tension between private passions and public decorum. This is Austen’s most social novel, and in both town and country, she depicts a privileged class rife with vulgarity and vindictiveness, where falsehoods can go undetected or might as easily be rewarded. For the upstanding women of Sense and Sensibility, society can be a treacherous place, demanding the engagement of both head and heart.