Sense and Sensibility is a romantic novel and a comedy of manners, Sense and Sensibility is set in southwest England, London and Kent between and portrays the life and loves of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. It follows the young ladies to their new home, a meagre cottage on a relative"s property, where they experience love, romance and heartbreak. Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her plots are fundamentally comic and highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.