Pride and Prejudice

When Elizabeth Bennet first encounters the eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him to be arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her pleasant looks and sharp mind. When she later learns that that Darcy has involved himself in the somewhat troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her dear sister Jane, she is resolved to dislike him more than ever. In the brilliant comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of passing judgment on first impressions alone and wonderfully evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of rural middle-class England.