Jane Austen here transcribes some of her earliest fiction, written between the ages of twelve and fifteen. The original drafts do not survive. The stories are parodies, and display a precocious grasp of literary technique and the popular genres of the day. Jack and Alice is a satire on the Gothic novel, and Austen has inscribed it to her favourite brother, Francis, who would eventually rise to the rank of Admiral in the Royal Navy.
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