"Women and 'Value' in Jane Austen's Novels" offers an in-depth analysis of the economic and social realities that shape the female characters in Jane Austen's novels. In particular, Austen's secondary characters are examined to illuminate the tensions between intrinsic and expressed value in the changing market of the 18th century. The book addresses how these characters, much like the newly introduced paper money, struggle for their own valuation while living in a society that often reduces their worth to their dowries. Author Lynda A. Hall highlights the challenges faced by women who settle for transactional marriages, act as speculators, or fight for personal significance and existence as surplus women. Through a socio-historical framework, the development of a competitive consumer economy is considered in connection with affective individuality.