NV hen Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks hivn arrogant and conceited; he is indifnu-ent to her good looks and lively mincl. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that fV)llows, Jane Austen shows the fV)lly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life Jane Austen's 1813 masterpiece has a lasting on everyone who reads it.