With an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith, the Vintage Classics Austen series is designed by writer and illustrator Leanne Shapton and features some of our best contemporary writers and Austen fans: Alexander McCall Smith, Lynne Truss, Amanda Vickery, Francesca Segal, P. D. James, and Andrew Motion. "The most popular book by our most popular novelist" - Independent. Elizabeth Bennet is young, smart, and attractive, but her mother is a nightmare, and she along with her four sisters are in urgent need of financial security and escape in the form of husbands. The arrival of the charming Mr. Bingley and the arrogant Mr. Darcy in the neighborhood, both single and possessing great fortunes, disrupts their lives in this witty drama of friendship, rivalry, enmity, and love.