While there are differing opinions on the answer to this question, it is generally accepted that the credit for the novel as we know it belongs to Spanish writer Miguel Austen is considered one of the greatest novelists in English. She wrote just six books during her lifetime, including her best-known works Sense and Sensibility (published 1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Emma (1816), but in so doing she created the novel of manners, which continues to delight readers today. The daughter of a clergyman, Jane Austen (1775–1817) rejected the literary movement of the day, romanticism, opting instead to portray life as she knew it. As such, she was the first realist in the English novel. Austen’s works are ripe with shrewd observation, wit, and an appreciation for the charms of everyday life, making her an engaging storyteller for all time.