'She had an excellent heart; - her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.'

When Sir Henry Dashwood dies unexpectedly, his estate passes to his only son, leaving his widow and three daughters with no home and little to live on.

The elder two sisters couldn’t be less alike. Impetuous, romantic and idealistic Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo.

Meanwhile Elinor, rational, cool-headed and always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her.

Through their parallel experience of love - and its threatened loss - the sisters learn that to live well requires both the bravery of open sensibility and the tempering of desire with wisdom if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.