Description
Book SynopsisAusten’s hilarious early stories and sketches—complete with her delightfully quirky spelling habits—now collected in one volume, including Lady Susan, the basis for Whit Stillman's feature film Love and Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloë SevignyJane Austen’s earliest writing dates from when she was just eleven-years-old, and already shows the hallmarks of her mature work. But it is also a product of the times in which she grew up—dark, grotesque, often surprisingly bawdy, and a far cry from the polished, sparkling novels of manners for which she became famous. Drunken heroines, babies who bite off their mothers’ fingers, and a letter-writer who has murdered her whole family all feature in these highly spirited pieces. This edition includes all of Austen’s juvenilia, including her “
History of England” - written by a 'partial, prejudiced and ignorant Histor
Trade ReviewSpirited, easy, full of fun, verging with freedom upon sheer nonsense . . . At fifteen she had few illusions about other people and none about herself -- Virginia Woolf
[Her] inspiration was the inspiration of Gargantua and of Pickwick; it was the gigantic inspiration of laughter -- G. K. Chesterton
A superb new reader's edition of Austen's complete juvenilia ... based upon a careful study of the original manuscripts and including an excellent introduction * The Jane Austen Society of North America *
