Catharine, or The Bower

Jane Austen, one of the nation's most beloved authors, whose face adorns our currency, surely needs no introduction, but while many are familiar with her groundbreaking novels, few have come across her brilliantly funny unfinished novella, Catharine, or The Bower.
Written when Austen was only around seventeen, Catharine, or The Bower is a short but important work, as it shows Austen's preoccupation changing from short burlesques to the satirical novels which her name is so inextricably linked with. This edition also contains The Beautiful Cassandra, a very short 'novel in twelve chapters' that maps out a parody of the melodramatic novels of Austen's day - in many ways the prototype for the legacy she left behind.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the best known English novelists of all time. She is best remembered today for her novels critiquing the upper classes, in particular Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Like most female writers of her era, Austen published her works anonymously, and it was only after her death that her name was set to her works.