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.