Book at bedtime: Pride and Prejudice and the price of a good match

Tonight's book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, published in 1813. It is a novel about how, in the English provinces of the early nineteenth century, money decided who married whom — and about two people who could not stand each other first. It reads well in the evening: the chapters are short, there is more talk than description, and almost every scene ends on something that makes you turn the page. The English text has long been in the public domain and is published in full by Project Gutenberg, so you can start tonight for nothing.

How does the novel begin?

With one sentence that sets the tone of the whole book — mocking and very clear-eyed: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, chapter one, from the edition published by Project Gutenberg.

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A page later Mrs Bennet names the figure that sets the whole household in motion: the newly arrived Mr Bingley has "four or five thousand a year". Money is named aloud throughout the novel. It is not background, it is the engine of the plot.

Why read it today?

Because the book is a precise study of what happens when marriage is also a financial decision. The five Bennet sisters cannot inherit their father's house, so marrying is not a romantic choice but a question of where they will live in ten years' time. Austen does not moralise: she puts calculation, foolishness, snobbery and kindness side by side in one drawing room and lets the reader work it out.

Chapter one takes about five minutes. It is almost entirely a dialogue between Mr and Mrs Bennet and works as a scene on its own. If it does not pull you in, the evening is still not wasted.

Who was Jane Austen?

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire, and on 7 July 1809 moved to Chawton, where most of what we read today was written. She began Pride and Prejudice much earlier, in 1796–1797, under the title First Impressions; her father offered the manuscript to a publisher, who turned it down. The novel appeared only in 1813, and without her name on it: it was published "by the author of Sense and Sensibility". That book, in turn, had come out in 1811 as the work of "a Lady".

Austen died on 18 July 1817 in her lodgings in Winchester, aged 41, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral on 24 July. These dates are from the timeline on the Jane Austen's House museum site.

Where can you walk in her footsteps?

Three places, all open and checked today.

Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Hampshire, GU34 1SD — the house where her major novels were written. From 5 to 25 October 2026 it opens Wednesday to Sunday; from 26 October to 1 November it opens all seven days for half term. Hours are 10am to 5pm with last admission at 4pm. Adult £15.50; child 6–16 £7.25; under 6 free; young person 17–26 and disabled visitors £11.00, with carers free. Pre-booking saves £1, and entry is by timed slot with no more than 12 visitors every 20 minutes. The ticket becomes an annual pass.

The Jane Austen Centre, 40 Gay Street, Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2NT. Until 2 November 2026 it opens daily 10:00–17:30; from 3 November it closes at 16:30 on weekdays, 17:30 on Saturday and 16:30 on Sunday. Last entry is one hour before closing. Adult £17.00, child 6–16 £9.50, students and over-60s £15.50.

Winchester Cathedral, Cathedral Close, SO23 9JP, where she is buried. Monday to Saturday 9am–5pm, Sunday 12.30pm–3pm, last entry 30 minutes before closing. Adult £14.90, or £13.90 booked online; student £8.50, or £7.50 online; child 12–16 £6.50, or £5.50 online; children 11 and under free with a paying adult.

Where can you get the book?

Free and legally in English from Project Gutenberg: copyright expired long ago and the full text is there. For a library copy, the Library Hub Discover catalogue shows which British libraries hold it. One point that applies across this series: a translation carries its own copyright, separate from the original, which is why we translate our own extracts for the Russian edition of this piece.

The cover of this issue was made by our editors from our own photograph: sunset on the beach at Brighton. Brighton is not an arbitrary choice — it is where Lydia Bennet follows the regiment. This is our illustration, not a publisher's cover: ONLYWAY NEWS does not reproduce other people's cover art.