Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote romantic novels set among the landed gentry, and won herself a place as one of the favorite and most-read writers in English literature. Scholars and critics appreciate her social commentary and her irony, while normal readers love her for her characters and stories. While her plots tended to be comic, they focused on how women had to depend on marriage to secure social standing and economic security in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.