Although Jane Austen has long been one of England's best loved novelists this book by Roger Gard is at once a discussion of Jane Austen's oeuvre and a commentary that should stimulate all readers. Gard offers discussions of the six major novels, together with the early "Lady Susan" and the unfinished "Sanditon". The precise nature and scope of Jane Austen's realism, her particularly English approach to the world, and the characteristic blend in her work of a sharp skepticism about human nature and its banality with an idealism about human virtue are themes that recur throughout Gard's study. The book also makes links between Jane Austen and other authors ranging from Shakespeare to Flaubert, Lawrence, George Eliot, and Barbara Pym.