Jack & Alice

'When you are more intimately acquainted with my Alice, you will not be surprised, Lucy, to see the dear creature drink a little too much; for such things happen every day. She has many rare and charming qualities, but sobriety is not one of them.'

Decidedly strange, illogical and out of the norm, "Jack and Alice" depicts life in Pammydiddle, a pleasant English town with a love of parties, scandal and gossip.

The work is full of parody and a pastiche of many literary trends of the time. Another classic short story from Austen's "juvenilia", written in her teenage years and originally shared with her family and friends. Full of bold, ridiculous characters and the satire she would later be famed for, it is the perfect insight into the quick-witted mind of young Austen.