Tales for Fifteen

Tales for Fifteen, attributed to "Jane Morgan," is an early, unfinished pair of moral tales by James Fenimore Cooper, written with young women in mind and with a warning that feeling may outrun judgment. The longer tale, Imagination, follows Julia Warren, a lively girl raised by her affectionate but uncertain aunt, Miss Emmerson, in a world where feminine education is reduced to accomplishments and appearances. Julia's deep devotion to her friend Anna Miller, her awkward exchanges with the thoughtful Charles Weston, and a spirited debate about love, friendship, and duty reveal her romantic idealism and emotional excess. When Anna's teasing letter arrives, Julia's imagination only grows more active. A later carriage journey with the disguised coachman Antonio becomes a comic triumph of self-deception, as Julia reads nobility, devotion, and secret courtship into every word and gesture. The second tale, Heart, is shorter, more serious, and left incomplete, offering a meditation on faithful love. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.