Catherine: A Story

by William Makepeace Thackeray

"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.