Barnes & Noble Signature Editions: Pride and Prejudice (ePub)

Elizabeth Bennet has no trouble making up her mind about Mr. Darcy. From the moment he enters the ball, he seems stiff, arrogant, and obnoxious. When Elizabeth overhears Darcy's charming friend Mr. Bingley suggest that he ask her to dance, Darcy's curt dismissal of the notion confirms her worst expectations. Despite his good looks, superior education, and vast wealth, Darcy is a stuffy, self-important snob and the perfect target for Elizabeth's well-aimed wit. When her beloved sister Jane falls ill while visiting Mr. Bingley's sisters, Elizabeth rushes to Jane's sickbed and is forced to stay at the Bingleys' elegant rented manor for several days. She discovers that Mr. Bingley is falling deeply in love with Jane, that his sisters will do anything to prevent him from marrying her, and that Darcy is every bit as impossible as he appeared on first impression. Despite Elizabeth's negative feelings about Darcy, fate seems determined to keep throwing this mismatched pair together, and Darcy, almost in spite of himself, will make revelations that will end up causing Elizabeth to question everything she believes—not only about him, but about her own good judgment. Set in a time when marrying well was a woman's only way to assure a secure and comfortable future, Pride and Prejudice is arguably the forerunner of all romantic comedies and certainly one of the best-loved, most imitated novels of all time.