Deseret Book Version of Sense and Sensibility

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Elinor Dashwood and her younger sister Marianne, are devastated at the death of their father and their brother’s subsequent rejection of Mormonism. He sells the estate that they have lived on all their lives and insists that the only way they can continue to live there is if they renounce Mormonism. Of course, they refuse and move with their aging mother to a tiny estate offered by a Mormon cousin, Colonel Brandon.

Colonel Brandon is a much older man, but he immediately falls in love with young, impetuous Marianne, who wants nothing to do with him. Marianne instead falls in love with John Willoughby, the amusing neighbor who pays her far too much attention and takes her out on dates far past her curfew.

Elinor, meanwhile, has had her own heart broken. Her beloved, Edward Ferrars, came home from his mission and dated her for months, but never made an offer, and then went back to his mission area. Elinor heard that he was engaged to one of his converts there and she tries to be happy for him, despite her own heartache. Of course, he must be truly in love and she is sure that whatever he does is what God has told him to do.

Marianne’s hopes for Willoughby are dashed when his aunt discovers that he has had his name removed from the records of the church and has used cannibas recreationally, as well as numerous other crimes. She disinherits him and he goes off to marry a non-Mormon who is wealthy. Marianne falls into a deep depression which only Colonel Brandon, using the consecrated oil he carries with him at all times, can save her from. When she awakes, she says his name and tells him that she had a near-death experience in which her deceased father told her she was to marry him.

As for Elinor, she finds out that Edward has not married his convert, after all. He discovered that she never believed in Mormonism and he left her at the door of the temple. He comes to ask Elinor to marry him instead, promising that he will never leave Mormonism and that he will give his whole life to the gospel if only he has Elinor at his side. Of course, she agrees and there is something as close to a double wedding at the temple as possible


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