Love and Friendship, and other writings is a popular edition of some of the longer prose juvenalia of Jane Austen. Although Austen consistently spelled "freindship" and some similar words with "e before i", this edition has corrected that to the modern spelling. Almost all works in this collection are short, and each displays a sense of playfulness, clearly suggesting these pieces of writing were read to (family) gatherings and meant to provoke laughter and hilarity. Nonetheless, the somewhat longer pieces can be read as developmental stages to the writing of the later novels, often including similar characters or ideas. Many of the novels of the eighteenth century were epistolary novels, and so are some of Austen's juvenalia. However, her mature novels are not epistolary.

Besides the title story "Love and Friendship", this collection includes "Lesley Castle", 'The History of England", "The three sisters", "Catherine, or the Bower", and "A collection of letters". The latter is an epistolary novella, not merely a collection of letters, as the title may confuse.

This edition is light on notes, and provides some general information on Austen's life, including some pictures. Readers with a more scholarly interest in the early works of Jane Austen should probably read the OUP edition, which in much more complete and provides extensive explanatory notes. ( )