Catherine: A Story

by Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"Catherine: A Story" by William Makepeace Thackeray is a novel serialized between 1839 and 1840. Written as a deliberate critique of popular crime fiction that romanticized criminals, Thackeray based his story on Catherine Hayes, a real eighteenth-century woman executed for murdering her husband. His goal was to portray criminals as utterly vile and unredeemable. Yet despite his intentions, Thackeray developed an unexpected sympathy for his heroine, and the novel's rogues emerged as oddly appealing—a result the author considered a failure. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Language

English

Format

EPUB

Publisher

Not specified

Publication year

Not specified

License

Project Gutenberg License; edition rights require review

Automated conservative edition review 2026-10-20T07:04:49.214Z (historical-original-en-v2), Philippines scope. English historical author Thackeray, William Makepeace, died 1863; original-language author allowlist, matching sole EPUB/catalog creator, no credited contributors, no extra artwork, no flagged editorial/translation/copyright cues in isolated text. US public-domain source label and retained Gutenberg license; EPUB CRC passed. This is rule-based screening, not a worldwide rights opinion or a claim of manual review. Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1969; Philippine term reference https://www.ipophil.gov.ph/copyright/. EPUB SHA256 65411710645007879deb293680d0f92aa8176e0c4ced0097291ba1be81ef6abb; RDF SHA256 597ab1b69a128248f320faeb73796281ce2fd6111d4f2879db78d317c43c2e65.