Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. ...more
In early nineteenth-century England, a spirited young woman copes with the suit of a snobbish gentleman as well as the romantic entanglements of her four sisters. Includes explanatory notes throughout the text, an introduction discussing the author and the background of the story, and a study guide.
"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. ''Be very still,'' he whispered, as if I wasn''t already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat. " As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwa...more
There's no love lost between Marla and Carolyn Sutton. Carolyn has never forgiven Marla for leaving Hairstyle Heaven to open her own place, especially since Marla's clientele grew as Carolyn's faded away. Carolyn retaliated by relocating near Marla, but couldn't put the highlights back in the balance sheet. Still, it's a nasty shock when Marla ente...more