Background
The novel asks what counts as good judgment inside a world organized by wealth, rank, and family obligation. Fanny’s reserve can be mistaken for passivity, but the narration gives close attention to what she notices and to the pressure placed on her choices.
Reading notes
- Keep track of who has the power to invite, refuse, or set the household rules.
- Read the amateur theatricals as more than a comic diversion: ask what boundaries they test.
- Separate a character’s confidence from the evidence that supports it.
Version note
Text source: the Standard Ebooks EPUB edition identified on this page. This site extracted the English text and retained the source edition’s chapter order. Public-domain status must be checked for the territory where the text will be distributed.