Attempts to dispel some of the myths that have accumulated through television and cinema adaptations and to deal with the criticisms that, although living through some of the most turbulent times in European history, she could do little more than write mannered comedies about young women finding suitable husbands. The book gives an account of her life and discusses each of her works, looking at themes of parenthood, civility and propriety, women, the ideology of the class that she cuts to the quick with her seemingly gentle irony and, of course, marriage.