Jane Austen's wit is already in bloom in this collection of very early works. At age fourteen, she skewers the literary conventions of her time with abandon in stories told in letters, the first act of a comedy, and a History of England that would not be amiss in a Monty Python sketch. There are improbable meetings, impossible romances, fainting spells that don't work as they are meant to, and hilarious parodies of stock characters. More freely and loosely drawn than her mature work, much of Jane Austen's early work is laugh-out-loud funny. This charming little volume gives a wonderful sense of the author's own voice, and draws the reader to her world, a world where the people are instantly recognizable as long-ago versions of family, friends, and acquaintances we see around us even now.