Sets Jane Austen's novel in the context of the Napoleonic wars, with the melancholia and sensibility that they brought to 18th-century society, the source of much of the tension and power of the book. The Austen themes of family, attachments and engagements are explained against a society where great changes were taking place, such as the greater mobility of the populace. Yet it was probably one of the most repressive political eras of the century, and the theme of secrecy in the novel reflects this.