Love and Friendship and Other Early Works is a collection of short stories written by Jane Austen before her major novels. It is a series of letters and other works that Austen wrote that show a free spirited Austen. Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her plots are fundamentally comic and highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.