Sense and Sensibility.

Sense and Sensibility, first published in 1811 by Thomas Egerton of London as Jane Austen's debut novel, is a work of brilliant psychological and social comedy contrasting the temperaments and romantic fortunes of two sisters: the reserved and sensible Elinor Dashwood, who governs her emotions with perfect propriety, and the passionate and impulsive Marianne, who gives herself over to feeling with equally perfect abandon. The novel's central argument, that both pure sense and pure sensibility are insufficient guides to a well-lived life and that some integration of the two is required for genuine happiness, is delivered through one of the most elegantly constructed plots in the Austen canon and a cast of characters whose social comedy has lost none of its freshness across two centuries of continuous readership. The definitive screen adaptation remains Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995), with a screenplay by Emma Thompson, who also starred as Elinor opposite Kate Winslet's Marianne, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars, and Alan Rickman as the devoted Colonel Brandon. The film earned seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and Thompson won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the only person in history to have won Academy Awards for both acting and screenwriting. The film grossed $135 million worldwide against a $16 million budget and is widely regarded as the gold standard of Austen adaptations.