Norland Park
The loss
At Norland in Sussex, the death of Mr Dashwood leaves his second family at the mercy of his son, whose grasping wife whittles their promised support down to nothing. Austen opens on the precariousness of women without money, and on the contrast between Elinor's guarded good sense and Marianne's open, romantic heart, tested at once by leaving the only home they know.
The opening chapters
inspired byNorland Park, the Sussex estate the Dashwood women lose on their father's death, is a fictional seat drawn from the country of southern England; sited in Sussex, outside the Devon setting.
