In one volume Sarah Tytler presents the most characteristic of Jane Austen's novels, together with her life. The tales and the life are calculated to reflect on each other, and the arrangement of the tales – selected by the author as Austen wrote them, not as they happened to be published – allows the growth of Austen's mind and taste to be recognised. The author touches on these great English novels in such a way as to make them readily accessible to all. She points out the great changes in social standards, customs and fashions that have occurred since Jane Austen wrote, but concludes that the human nature in her books remains the same as human nature in every generation.