The characterisation of Mr and Mrs Bennet in Pride & Prejudice is brilliant. Mr Bennet married for looks and has since come to regret having done so. He copes with Mrs Bennet’s ceaseless prattle by shutting himself in the library, and has developed a caustic, sharp-edged humor (some intriguing parallels are drawn between him and Charlotte Lucas). He is a negligent father who seems only to care for Lizzy. Non-readers often assume that Austen’s books are syrupy odes to the joys of romance and marriage. Part of the cleverness of her writing is that, with a handful of exceptions, most of the married couples in her stories are miserable. A good marriage is possible, but by no means guaranteed. She is a hard-nosed realist, and her eye misses nothing.