Card playing was a favorite pastime for many of Jane Austen's characters. Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley bonded over vingt-un, Mr. Woodhouse entertained Mrs. Goddard with piquet, and Fanny Price dealt the cribbage cards for Lady Bertram.

There are ten card games mentioned by name in Jane Austen's novels and an eleventh, brag, was so enjoyed by her brother's family at Godmersham that she wrote a comic poem about it in one of her letters to Cassandra. An evening card party often involved "a little bit of hot supper" like the one Mrs. Philips promised her nieces and the Meryton officers in Pride and Prejudice.

Complete instructions for the 11 Jane Austen card games are included in this book, along with three supper menus based on period recipes for dishes mentioned in the novels and letters. Chapters on the history of card playing and the evolution of supper in English country life provide background and context.