Love and Friendship, Plus Other Writings

Jane Austen displays her other side in 'Love and Friendship. Those who think of her as the height of Victorian respectability and prudence should delve into the tale where she shows her wickedly funny side. This is a collection of letters, rather than a traditional novel. She wrote this in notebooks prior to becoming an adult and it reads like the 'rough drafts' it probably was. Actually most of the book reads like a really funny Saturday Night Live skit. It is a story told through letters about a young couple in love. Naturally, one of them dies and the other is left to carry on in a cruel and wicked world. Sound sad? Not an all! The entire thing is a parody of the sentimentality that was so popular in the novels of the time. A tongue in cheek classic that was delight from the first page.