Pride and Prejudice (Puffin Classics)

Mr and Mrs Bennet live with their five daughters. Jane, the eldest daughter, falls in love with Charles Bingley, a rich batchelor who takes a house nearby with his two sisters and friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Darcy is attracted to the second daugher, Elizabeth, but a bad account of him is given to Elizabeth. He and Bingley's effect the separation of Bingley and Jane. William Collins, cousin to the sisters and as only male, heir to the Bennet estate, proposes to Elizabeth but is rejected. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth but she refuses. When Elizabeth travels north she is invited with friends to Darcy's place in Berbyshire, and thinking Darcy is absent she goes. However, he is there and she is surprised by his much-improved manners. She hears news that her sister Lydia has eloped with Wickham, an unprincipled adventurer. With Darcy's help the fugitives are found. The attachment between Bingley and Jane is renewed and leads to an engagement. In spite of the insolent intervention of Lady Catherine, Darcy and Elizabeth become engaged.