A celebration of the sharpest, wittiest, most beloved Jane Austen characters and their timeless retorts

Why use plain words to scold those nearest to you when fancier insults are available? With The Jane Austen Insult Guide for Well-Bred Women, you can clap back at irritating strangers, tiresome guests, bad dates and micromanaging bosses with top-notch snipes from the ultimate literary genius.

Just as effective today as they were two hundred years ago, hold your head high as you deliver the following:

When they won’t stop talking: ‘Let us have the luxury of silence.’

When you colleague asks you to ‘circle back’: ‘I detest jargon of every kind…’

When they post filtered selfies: ‘Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked.’