Sanditon, The Watsons, and Lady Susan

By Jane Austen

Collected here are Jane Austen's three unfinished works; "Sanditon, The Watsons, and Lady Susan". "Sanditon" is the story of the idyllic modern seaside town and its inhabitants. "The Watsons" is the story of Mr. Watson, a widowed clergyman, and his two sons and four daughters. "Lady Susan", the most complete of the three, is an epistolary novel; the story of its title character, a woman who engages in affairs and searches for suitable husbands for herself and her young daughter. Also included here is a short essay on the "Plan of a Novel".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781420935912

Jane Austen

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels—Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion—which observe and critique the British gentry of the late eighteenth century. Her mastery of wit, irony, and social commentary made her a beloved and acclaimed author in her lifetime, a distinction she still enjoys today around the world.

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SANDITON, THE WATSONS,

AND LADY SUSAN

BY JANE AUSTEN

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3002-3

Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3591-2

This edition copyright © 2011

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CONTENTS

PLAN OF A NOVEL

SANDITON

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

THE WATSONS

LADY SUSAN

LETTER I

LETTER II

LETTER III

LETTER IV

LETTER V

LETTER VI

LETTER VII

LETTER VIII

LETTER IX

LETTER X

LETTER XI

LETTER XII

LETTER XIII

LETTER XIV

LETTER XV

LETTER XVI

LETTER XVII

LETTER XVIII

LETTER XIX

LETTER XX

LETTER XXI

LETTER XXII

LETTER XXIII

LETTER XXIV

LETTER XXV

LETTER XXVI

LETTER XXVII

LETTER XXVIII

LETTER XXIX

LETTER XXX

LETTER XXXI

LETTER XXXII

LETTER XXXIII

LETTER XXXIV

LETTER XXXV

LETTER XXXVI

LETTER XXXVII

LETTER XXXVIII

LETTER XXXIX

LETTER XL

LETTER XLI

PLAN OF A NOVEL

Scene to be in the Country, Heroine the Daughter of a Clergyman, one who after having lived much in the World had retired from it and settled in a Curacy, with a very small fortune of his own.—He, the most excellent Man that can be imagined, perfect in Character, Temper, and Manners—without the smallest drawback or peculiarity to prevent his being the most delightful companion to his Daughter from one year's end to the other.—Heroine a faultless Character herself,—perfectly good, with much tenderness and sentiment, and not the least Wit—very highly accomplished, understanding modern Languages and (generally speaking) everything that the most accomplished young Women learn, but particularly excelling in Music—her favourite pursuit—and playing equally well on the Pianoforte and Harp—and singing in the first stile. Her Person quite beautiful—dark eyes and plump cheeks.—Book to open with the description of Father and Daughter—who are to converse in long speeches, elegant Language—and a tone of high serious sentiment.—The Father to be induced, at his Daughter's earnest request, to relate to her the past events of his Life. This Narrative will reach through the greatest part of the first volume—as besides all the circumstances of his attachment to her Mother and their Marriage, it will comprehend his going to sea as Chaplain to a distinguished naval character about the Court, his going afterwards to Court himself, which introduced him to a great variety of Characters and involved him in many interesting situations, concluding with his opinions on the Benefits to result from Tithes being done away, and his having buried his own Mother (Heroine's lamented Grandmother) in consequence of the High Priest of the Parish in which she died refusing to pay her Remains the respect due to them. The Father to be of a very literary turn, an Enthusiast in Literature, nobody's Enemy but his own—at the same time most zealous in discharge of his Pastoral Duties, the model of an exemplary Parish Priest.—The heroine's friendship to be sought after by a young woman in the same Neighbourhood, of Talents and Shrewdness, with light eyes and a fair skin, but having a considerable degree of Wit, Heroine shall shrink from the acquaintance. From this outset, the Story will proceed, and contain a striking variety of adventures. Heroine and her Father never above a fortnight together in one place, he being driven from his Curacy by the vile arts of some totally unprincipled and heart-less young Man, desperately in love with the Heroine, and pursuing her with unrelenting passion.—No sooner settled in one Country of Europe than they are necessitated to quit it and retire to another—always making new acquaintance, and always obliged to leave them.—This will of course exhibit a wide variety of Characters—but there will be no mixture; the scene will be for ever shifting from one Set of People to another—but All the Good will be unexceptionable in every respect—and there will be no foibles or weaknesses but with the Wicked, who will be completely depraved and infamous, hardly a resemblance of humanity left in them.—Early in her career, in the progress of her first removals, Heroine must meet with the Hero—all perfection of course—and only prevented from paying his addresses to her by some excess of refinement.—Wherever she goes, somebody falls in love with her, and she receives repeated offers of Marriage—which she refers wholly to her Father, exceedingly angry that he should not be first applied to.—Often carried away by the anti-hero, but rescued either by her Father or by the Hero—often reduced to support herself and her Father by her Talents and work for her Bread; continually cheated and defrauded of her hire, worn down to a Skeleton, and now and then starved to death.—At last, hunted out of civilized Society, denied the poor Shelter of the humblest Cottage, they are compelled to retreat into Kamschatka where the poor Father, quite worn down, finding his end approaching, throws himself on the Ground, and after 4 or 5 hours of tender advice and parental Admonition to his miserable Child, expires in a fine burst of Literary Enthusiasm, intermingled with Invectives against holders of Tithes.—Heroine inconsolable for some time—but afterwards crawls back towards her former Country—having at least 20 narrow escapes from falling into the hands of the Anti-hero—and at last in the very nick of time, turning a corner to avoid him, runs into the arms of the Hero himself, who having just shaken off the scruples which fettered him before, was at the very moment setting off in pursuit of her.—The Tenderest and completest éclaircissement takes place, and they are happily united.—Throughout the whole work, Heroine to be in the most elegant Society and living in high style. The name of the work not to be Emma, but of the same sort as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.

SANDITON

CHAPTER 1

A Gentleman and Lady travelling from Tunbridge towards that part of the Sussex coast which lies between Hastings and Eastbourne, being induced by business to quit the high road and attempt a very rough lane, were overturned in toiling up its long a scent, half rock, half sand. The accident happened just beyond the only gentleman's house near the lane—a house which their driver, on being first required to take that direction, had conceived to be necessarily their object and had with most unwilling looks been constrained to pass by. He had grumbled and shaken his shoulders and pitied and cut his horses so sharply that he might have been open to the suspicion of overturning them on purpose (especially as the carriage was not his master's own) if the road had not indisputably become worse than before, as soon as the premises of the said house were left behind—expressing with a most portentous countenance that, beyond it, no wheels but cart wheels could safely proceed. The severity of the fall was broken by their slow pace and the narrowness of the lane; and the gentleman having scrambled out and helped out his companion, they neither of them at first felt more than shaken and bruised. But the gentleman had, in the course of the extrication, sprained his foot; and soon becoming sensible of it, was obliged in a few moments to cut short both his remonstrance to the driver and his congratulations to his wife and himself and sit down on the bank, unable to stand. There is something wrong here, said he, putting his hand to his ankle. But never mind, my dear, looking up at her with a smile, it could not have happened, you know, in a better place Good out of evil. The very thing perhaps to be wished for. We shall soon get relief. There, I fancy, lies my cure, pointing to the neat-looking end of a cottage, which was seen romantically situated among wood on a high eminence at some little distance ' Does not that promise to Be the very place? His wife fervently hoped it was; but stood, terrified and anxious, neither able to do or suggest anything, and receiving her first real comfort from the sight of several persons now coming to their assistance. The accident had been discerned from a hayfield adjoining the house they had passed. And the persons who approached were a well-looking, hale, gentlemanlike man of middle age, the proprietor of the place, who happened to be among his haymakers at the time, and three or four of the ablest of them summoned to attend their master—to say nothing of all the rest of the field, men, women and children, not very far off. Mr. Heywood, such was the name of the said proprietor, advanced with a very civil salutation, much concern for the accident, some surprise at anybody's attempting that road in a carriage, and ready offers of assistance. His courtesies were received with good breeding and gratitude, and while one or two of the men lent their help to the driver in getting the carriage upright again, the traveller said, You are extremely obliging, sir, and I take you at your word—The injury to my leg is, I dare say, very trifling. But it is always best in these cases, you know, to have a surgeon's opinion without loss of time; and as the road does not seem in a favourable state for my getting up to his house myself, I will thank you to send off one of these good people for the surgeon. The surgeon! exclaimed Mr. Heywood. I am afraid you will find no surgeon at hand here, but I dare say we shall do very well without him. Nay sir, if he is not in the way, his partner will do just as well—or rather better. I would rather see his partner. Indeed I would prefer the attendance of his partner. One of these good people can be with him in three minutes, I am sure. I need not ask whether I see the house, looking towards the cottage, for excepting your own, we have passed none in this place which can be the abode of a gentleman. Mr. Heywood looked very much astonished. What, sir! Are you expecting to find a surgeon in that cottage? We have neither surgeon nor partner in the parish, I assure you. Excuse me, sir, replied the other. I am sorry to have the appearance of contradicting you, but from the extent of the parish or some other cause you may not be aware of the fact—stay—can I be mistaken in the place? Am I not in Willingden? Is not this Willingden? Yes, sir, this is certainly Willingden. Then, sir, I can bring proof of your having a surgeon in the parish, whether you may know it or not. Here, sir, taking out his pocket book, if you will do me the favor of casting your eye over these advertisements which I cut out myself from the Morning Post and the Kentish Gazette only yesterday morning in London, I think you will be convinced that I am not speaking at random. You will find in it an advertisement of the dissolution of a partnership in the medical line—in your own parish—extensive business—undeniable character—respectable references—wishing to form a separate establishment. You will find it at full length, sir,' offering the two little oblong extracts. Sir, if you were to show me all the newspapers that are printed in one week throughout the kingdom, you would not persuade me of there being a surgeon in Willingden, said Mr. Heywood with a good-humoured smile. Having lived here ever since I was born, man and boy fifty-seven years, I think I must have known of such a person. At least I may venture to say that he has not much business. To be sure, if gentlemen were to be often attempting this lane in post-chaises, it might not be a bad speculation for a surgeon to get a house at the top of the hill. But as to that cottage, I can assure you, sir, that it is in fact, in spite of its spruce air at this distance, as indifferent a double tenement as any in the parish, and that my shepherd lives at one end and three old women at the other. He took the pieces of paper as he spoke, and, having looked them over, added, I believe I can explain it, sir. Your mistake is in the place. There are two Willingdens in this country. And your advertisements must refer to the other, which is Great Willingden or Willingden Abbots, and lies seven miles off on the other side of Battle. Quite down in the weald. And we, sir, he added, speaking rather proudly, are not in the weald. Not down in the weald, I am sure, replied the traveller pleasantly. It took us half an hour to climb your hill. Well, I dare say it is as you say and I have made an abominably stupid blunder. All done in a moment. The advertisements did not catch my eye till the last half hour of our being in town—everything in the hurry and confusion which always attend a short stay there. One is never able to complete anything in the way of business, you know, till the carriage is at the door. So satisfying myself with a brief inquiry, and finding we were actually to pass within a mile or two of a Willingden, I sought no farther.... My dear (to his wife) I am very sorry to have brought you into this scrape. But do not be alarmed about my leg. It gives me no pain while I am quiet. And as soon as these good people have succeeded in setting the carriage to rights and turning the horses round, the best thing we can do will be to measure back our steps into the turnpike road and proceed to Hailsham, and so home without attempting anything farther. Two hours take us home from Hailsham. And once at home, we have our remedy at hand, you know. A little of our own bracing sea air will soon set me on my feet again. Depend upon it, my dear, it is exactly a case for the sea. Saline air and immersion will be the very thing. My sensations tell me so already. In a most friendly manner Mr. Heywood here interposed, entreating them not to think of proceeding till the ankle had been examined and some refreshment taken, and very cordially pressing them to make use of his house for both purposes. We are always well stocked, said he, with all the common remedies for sprains and bruises. And I will answer for the pleasure it will give my wife and daughters to be of service to you in every way in their power. A twinge or two, in trying to move his foot, disposed the traveller to think rather more than he had done at first of the benefit of immediate assistance; and consulting his wife in the few words of Well, my dear, I believe it will be better for us,' he turned again to Mr. Heywood. 'Before we accept your hospitality sir, and in order to do away with any unfavourable impression which the sort of wild-goose chase you find me in may have given rise to—allow me to tell you who we are. My name is Parker, Mr. Parker of Sanditon; this lady, my wife, Mrs. Parker. We are on our road home from London. My name perhaps—though I am by no means the first of my family holding landed property in the parish of Sanditon—may be unknown at this distance from the coast. But Sanditon itself—everybody has heard of Sanditon. The favourite—for a young and rising bathing-place—certainly the favourite spot of all that are to be found along the coast of Sussex; the most favoured by nature, and promising to be the most chosen by man.' Yes, I have heard of Sanditon, replied Mr. Heywood. Every five years, one hears of some new place or other starting up by the sea and growing the fashion. How they can half of them be filled is the wonder! Where people can be found with money and time to go to them! Bad things for a country—sure to raise the price of provisions and make the poor good for nothing—as I dare say you find, sir. Not at all, sir, not at all, cried Mr. Parker eagerly. Quite the contrary, I assure you. A common idea, but a mistaken one. It may apply to your large, overgrown places like Brighton or Worthing or Eastbourne—but not to a small village like Sanditon, precluded by its size from experiencing any of the evils of civilization; while the growth of the place, the buildings, the nursery grounds, the demand for everything and the sure resort of the very best company—those regular, steady, private families of thorough gentility and character who are a blessing everywhere—excite the industry of the poor and diffuse comfort and improvement among them of every sort. No sir, I assure you, Sanditon is not a place— I do not mean to take exception to any place in particular, answered Mr. Heywood. I only think our coast is too full of them altogether. But had we not better try to get you— Our coast too full! repeated Mr. Parker. On that point perhaps we may not totally disagree. At least there are enough. Our coast is abundant enough. It demands no more. Everybody's taste and everybody's finances may be suited. And those good people who are trying to add to the number are, in my opinion, excessively absurd and must soon find themselves the dupes of their own fallacious calculations. Such a place as Sanditon, sir, I may say was wanted, was called for. Nature had marked it out, had spoken in most intelligible characters. The finest, purest sea breeze on the coast—acknowledged to be so—excellent bathing—fine hard sand—deep water ten yards from the shore—no mud—no weeds—no slimy rocks. Never was there a place more palpably designed by nature for the resort of the invalid—the very spot which thousands seemed in need of! The most desirable distance from London! One complete, measured mile nearer than Eastbourne. Only conceive, sir, the advantage of saving a whole mile in a long journey. But Brinshore, sir, which I dare say you have in your eye—the attempts of two or three speculating people about Brinshore this last year to raise that paltry hamlet—lying as it does between a stagnant marsh, a bleak moor and the constant effluvia of a ridge of putrefying seaweed—can end in nothing but their own disappointment. What in the name of common sense is to recommend Brinshore? A most insalubrious air—roads proverbially detestable—water brackish beyond example, impossible to get a good dish of tea within three miles of the place. And as for the soil—it is so cold and ungrateful that it can hardly be made to yield a cabbage. Depend upon it, sir, that this is a most faithful description of Brinshore—not in the smallest degree exaggerated—and if you have heard it differently spoken of— Sir, I never heard it spoken of in my life before, said Mr. Heywood. I did not know there was such a place in the world. You did not! There, my dear, turning with exultation to his wife, you see how it is. So much for the celebrity of Brinshore! This gentleman did not know there was such a place in the world. Why, in truth, sir, I fancy we may apply to Brinshore that line of the poet Cowper

Reviews for Sanditon, The Watsons, and Lady Susan

[caslater83 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I love Jane Austen's more complete novels. (Ex. Mansfield Park.) It's "fleshed out" better. These three stories are so short that I feel that there is no meat to it for me. I need a good plot and good dialogue. This book of three-novellas-in-one just disappoints me to no end. To me, this is not the Jane Austen I know.

[benfulton · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really liked Lady Susan. Jane Austen once wrote to her niece that she had been able to pick out the adulteress right away at a party she had been to. Was the the basis of Lady Susan? Could have been, but one thing is sure: Susan is nothing like any other character in any Austen novel. Sensual, manipulative, and unapologetic, she moves through the world like a tigress, and events and people must shape themselves around her. Austen started this as a young writer, and it would have been fascinating had she the time nearer the end of her life to take it up again, from the perspective of age. As it is, Susan ends up badly in the short synopsis which takes the place of the second half of the story, which is something of a shame.The other two stories in this volume are both shorter and more traditional Austen. One tends to see The Watsons as perhaps an early version of Sense and Sensibility, and while it would have been nice if Ms. Austen had managed to write any other book, Watsons does not seem to push Jane's ouvre much.Sanditon had a bit more potential, with its wistul comparisons of the calm and relaxed late eighteenth century, to the leaps and bounds of the early nineteenth. As they stand, the characters are a bit coarsely drawn; almost caricatures, but they might have been expanded more as Jane thought them through. Neither of the last two fragments can compare to the full stories, though; to my mind it is only Susan that can really be regretted.

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Three works in one, unpublished in Jane Austen's lifetime, and unfinished. Cleverly written with good characters; fascinating from social history point of view, but disappointing that they were not completed.

[aharey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book included the short novel Lady Watson and the unfinished Sanditon and The Watsons. Although I am a serious Janeite, these would be at the bottom of my favorites list. It is easy to see how all three COULD have been much better- there is a reason Jane did not publish them in her lifetime- they weren't the polished masterpieces her other six novels are. It is interesting to speculate on how these stories would've turned out if she had edited them and published them.

[librarycin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This compilation includes three unfinished works by Austen. I read Lady Susan earlier this year on audio, so I skipped it here. The Watsons was abandoned by Austen and she was in the middle of writing Sanditon when she died. In The Watsons, Emma has been living with her aunt for a number of years, then returns home. Her sister, Elizabeth, describes various people whom Emma is likely to see at her first ball now that she's home. I think I would have liked this one had she finished it. Sanditon is a place along the sea where it seems people with health issues are gathering. I just couldn't get into this one, so I pretty much skimmed through it. Averaging out the two, I'm giving it 3 stars (ok).

[upstairsgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For once, the Penguin Classics introductory material adds to the experience of reading the main work, rather than giving away too much, though, of course, all the works included here are more or less not completely finished. Although the editors posit that one will find Lady Susan to be the least satisfactory, I found Sanditon to be dull and a chore to read, whereas Lady Susan, however limiting its epistolary form might be, is certainly fascinating.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This definitely shouldn't be your introduction to Jane Austen, and imagine it would only be picked up by avid fans like myself having read and reread her six mature completed novels and hungry for more. Lady Susan, which feels truncated, is a very early epistolary novel, and The Watsons was abandoned and Sandition left incomplete upon Austen's death.Lady Susan, which starts this volume, is really a novella, not a novel--it's only 23,021 words. It was written in 1794 when Austen was still in her teens. I found it hard to get into at first. Unlike her mature, completed novels, this is an epistolary novel told in letters, not third-person narration. The story feels thin compared to those other works as a result, although about halfway through we got more of a sense of scenes, with actual dialogue. It's not that I don't find it worth reading. This is very different in tone than Austen's other novels--her titular heroine is a villain--a catty and malicious adulteress trying to force her daughter Frederica into a marriage of convenience. But if I weren't an Austen fan, I doubt I'd have persisted in reading it far enough for the fascination of Lady Susan's machinations to take hold, although take hold they did. The ending nevertheless feels abrupt to me. (I understand Phyllis Ann Karr did a third person narrative adaptation of the story. Particularly since she's an author I've liked, I'd love to read that. Sadly it's long out of print.) The Watsons is an abandoned novel of about 17,500 words written in Austen's largely "silent" middle period after Sense and Sensibility and Price and Prejudice but before Mansfield Park and Emma and Persuasion. The protagonist in this novel, Emma Watson, is very likable. Like Fanny Price, she's someone who was raised away from her birth family by a rich relation--except she had expectations of being an heiress, which were disappointed by her rich aunt marrying again, throwing her back to her original family. Her family is respected enough to be able to mix with the best families, including a Lord interested in Emma, and comfortable enough to have a servant, but in the circles they run around in are considered "poor." Only nineteen, Emma has a lot more confidence than Fanny Price, and a lot less snobbishness than her namesake Emma Woodhouse. She won my liking when she goes to the rescue of a ten-year-old boy stood up at a dance. I'm only sorry there wasn't more, and we had to leave Emma soon after a ball parting from her brother and his wife. I'm sure that if Jane Austen had been able to complete this novel, I'd be rating it five or four stars as an equal to Pride and Prejudice or Emma. As it is, this had me running to read Joan Aiken's "continuation" Emma Watson immediately afterwards hungry for more--but was, alas, disappointed. I'm afraid I'll just have to be happy with what Austen left us.Sanditon was left uncompleted by Jane Austen's death, and I loved what I read to pieces, even more than The Watsons, and can only mourn that her death left Sanditon forever incomplete. It had such possibilities! I really liked our heroine Charlotte Heywood, with her obvious intelligence, lack of pretension and good sense. In the eleven chapters of 26,000 or so words we have left to us, Lady Denham and the three Parker hypochondriac siblings strike me as brilliant comic creations. Then there's Sir Edward Denham, who models himself after rakes like Richardson's Lovelace and schemes to seduce, and if not, abduct, Clara, his rival for Lady Denham's inheritance. Then there's Miss Lambe, "a young West Indian of large fortune," who is "about seventeen, half mulatto, and chilly and tender." What an interesting character to find in an Austen novel! I certainly will be trying at least one of the completions by other hands, although I expect I'll sadly be disappointed. In terms of what's on the page I'd rate this five stars to be honest. It gets only three because I can't imagine anyone but us hardcore Austen fanatics or scholars wanting to read an incomplete novel.

[jaimjane · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you think Jane Austen only wrote about dances, parties, and happy endings, you need to read Lady Susan. She not only openly discusses adultery but even more taboo subjects such as the fact Lady Susan hates her daughter, slanders the poor girl to everyone she knows, and tries to marry her off to her own lover that she stole from another girl. It was sad that the Watsons and Sanditon were never published. Jane died too young.

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book contains three different works, collected together because of their size. But they belong to different parts of Austen's life. Note: Don't read the introductions for each of the parts unless if you had read the novel before -- they are a good introduction if you do not mind being told what you are about to read... and I prefer to hear about that from Austen and not through the retelling of an editor. Lady Susan is the only finished piece here - it is a short novel about a wicked oldish woman which seems to believe that the world revolves around her. This is the only epistolary novel that she left (Sense and Sensibility had been initially started in the same way but then edited) and the clever conversations which are the trademark of Jane Austen are mostly missing - the format does not suit them well. But it does not make the novel a bad one - it has a somewhat abrupt ending, almost as if Austen got tired of writing it and wanted to wrap it up but it is an enjoyable little story. And even if there is almost no fully fleshed character besides Lady Susan, the few secondary ones are the likable ones and the ones that bring the whole story to life. What seems almost impossible happens here - the book delves into hard topics (adultery, forces marriages and so on) and remains an amusing piece of prose - not as polished as the 6 main novels but a little gem that could have published to brilliancy (and gifted with a better ending - even if it essentially remains the same, the way it is done is ruining the whole impression from the novel). The Watsons is a lot more traditional... and unfortunately unfinished. Siblings rivalry, unmarried sisters, a sibling growing up away in a better environment and returning, poverty, the main character catching the eye of a rich man and at the same time liking someone that is not that rich - if all that sounds familiar then don't think you've read the wrong book. While I was reading "The Watsons" I could almost see where some of those ideas were used in her later novels - Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion -- it is almost as if Austen used The Watsons as a draft and decided that all these elements in the same novel are too much and split them between the other books. But the piece that she wrote is vibrant and alive -- there are enough characters' actions to start liking some of them (and hating some of them). I wish she had finished the book - because even though we know how it was supposed to finish (from a letter Jane Austen wrote to her sister), the ending of a novel had never been what is the most important in her books - almost everyone can guess how all will end and almost anyone reading her books these days know how they end -- but that does not make them less readable. It is all about the way the end is reached.Sanditon is the last work she started, shortly before her death. And in its 12 chapters it is shaping up as a novel quite different from any of the previous 6 (or 7 if we count Lady Susan). It still has the maids that need to be married, it still has the title-owing man, the rich old lady and the small village that is so familiar from Austen's works. But it also have very eccentric family (Mr. Parker and all his siblings) and the village as a place being part of the novel - something that rarely happened in the early novels (in most places it is there to indicate the small dimensions but here it sounds like it will be one of the main characters of the story). And just like that, it ends. Noone knows how it would have ended, noone knows what Austen planned to do with it in the future. It remains as a beginning that could have led to the next great novel (or could have been abandoned as The Watsons). But even these initial 12 chapters are enjoyable - the Parker siblings are so comical that I could not resist laughing in a few occasions. I am aware that there are a few authors that finished that novel... and I am not sure that I want to check what they decided the intention had been. The novel is in such early stages that I am not convinced that we had met all of the main players yet (even if it is even longer than The Watsons, it feels a lot less finished and framed, it feels like a canvass in progress where the main elements are not yet fully there. On a whole reading this collection was an enjoyable experience. Austen's voice is clear and detectable in all of the stories and it is a good thing that these are made available - especially the unfinished pieces. But I doubt that someone that does not like her novels will like these stories.

[amanda4242_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lady Susan is a treat, with a deliciously wicked title character; it's slightly trashy and catty as hell and I really can't recommend it enough.The Watsons is an abandoned novel of an impoverished woman of respectable family trying to find a suitable match; it's little more than a sketch and most of what's there looks like it would become parts of Austen's major novels. The unfinished Sanditon is a satirical look at a seaside resort and is much more polished than the other two works; it has the seeds of what could have been a masterpiece.

[bohemima · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lady Susan, The Watson’s, Sanditon is an omnibus volume of Jane Austen’s earlier works. She is much more cutting here than in her later, better-known volumes. Lady Susan is a complete beast of a woman: conniving, manipulative, and thoroughly selfish. She attempts to marry her daughter to a much older man, completely against the girl’s will, and tries to match herself up with a true catch. This being Austen, all does end well; the rather mean delight is in seeing Lady Susan fail.The Watsons is the weakest of the three stories here. Emma Watson has to return to her father’s home after living with a wealthy aunt. The story is unfinished, so we can appreciate Emma’s chagrin at the behavior of her siblings, but that’s all.Sanditon is full of delicious characters. Lady Denham, in particular, stands out as an unbelievably vain woman who has to be the most important person at all times. The thin plot involves the development of a seaside resort. Although Austen didn’t live to finish the book, it’s clear that this would have been a lighthearted look at the foibles of those attempting to be just a bit more significant than they really are.Edit

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a volume of mostly incomplete stories, these short works showcase Jane Austins Talent. As always, some are better than others, but they span Ms. Austin's writing career. Its a shame that the The Watsons and Sanditon are incomplete.The first story, Lady Susan, was written at the start of Jane Austin's Career. The story is complete, but very uneven. Lady Susan is a big personality, taking up most of the story. Incredibly egotistical, she uses her daughter to improve her own statue. As for the ending, I think Ms. Austin just gave up. It is finished with an epilogue, explaining what happened to all the characters. The good comes out on top, the wicked gets her comeuppance.As for the Watsons - its unfortunate that the story isn't finished. There is everything a reader could want - orphan with no money, silly relatives, a love interest and wit. The ending of the story is fairly predictable, but I suspect that the aunt would have made a return, possibly with money. Last is Sanditon - its a much thicker story than The Watsons or Lady Susan. My initial thoughts were annoyance, but with themes of a changing world, and a social standings, it has potential. Its too bad that this story wasn't finished. It has so much potential to address social standings, a changing world and small town economy, and of course, relationships.One last thing - there is an introduction by the editor - Ms. Margaret Drabble. I think she sometimes misses the point of the stories. She also makes connections that aren't there. Of course, my edition was from the 1970's, so it might be opinions from a different time.

[ericcostello-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A collection of what could be described as "off-cuts." The volume contains three stories: the first, "Lady Susan," was a very early work of Austen's, and takes the form of a series of letters among the protagonists. It was not published in Austen's lifetime (though it was evidently advanced to the point where a fair copy was made); while I'm not with G.K. Chesterston, who is quoted on the back of this volume as being willing to have "left "Lady Susan" in the wastepaper basket" (I find it interesting Penguin was so defensive to put that quote right at the top of the back of the cover blurb), the story didn't really work for me. It was very difficult to follow who was saying what to whom without a great deal of work, and I didn't find many of the characters to be engaging. "The Watsons," the second work in the volume, was an uncompleted novel that was put aside by Austen around the time of the death of her father. This was still in an early draft form when she stopped work on it, and the two problems I had with it were firstly that there's not enough of a story to figure out where things are going, and secondly, none of the characters are engaging to me. That could be because Austen had not yet had the "space" to flesh them out. What saves this volume is the last entry, "Sandition," which was uncompleted at the time of Austen's early death. The setting, an up-and-coming oceanside resort, is full of possibilities, and there's much in the way of social chess-matches going on. The observer of all the goings-on, Charlotte, comes off surprisingly well as a critical bystander, and the gang of entrepreneurs, hypochondriacs, social-climbers and legacy-schemers is entertaining. "Sandition" likely reflects an author that was far more mature in her skill, and more fairly, had had some time to work on the novel. This collection is, I think, for Austen completists, and should not be read as an introduction to Austen's work -- which is what happened here with me! Drabble's introduction, by the way, is a good one, and does much to throw some light on the works.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm both a completist and not a huge fan of Jane Austen, so it was with mixed feeling si approached this book of unpublished works. 2 were incomplete, the third completed, but much shorter and less polished than her published works. The Watsons and Sanditon were just so-so, so much Jane Austen. The one I enjoyed the most was the once most unlike her later style. Lady Susan is written as a series of letters and she can;t ;pull it off effectively for the entire story. It also features a character who is quite ungenteel, in the titual anti-heroine. Lady Susan is a gold digger and is out for force her daughter Frederica into a mariage with a very stupid man, while Lady Susan embarks on affairs and generally breaking up happy familes. It is not an effective piece of writing, in that there is nothing to balance Lady Susan, no light and shade, it dominated by Susan and there's no clear contrast to be found. But I found it so different from the usual tale of manners and repression that i quite enjoyed it.

[sagustocox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Watsons by Jane Austen is an unfinished novel, but encompasses many elements from her finished novels, such as Emma and Sense & Sensibility. Elizabeth and Emma Watson hail from a poorer family than the Osborne or the Edwards families. Emma had been living with an aunt for many years, only to return home to a sickly father and a devoted sister, Elizabeth, who has not married despite her advanced age to care for their father. The story begins with Elizabeth escorting herself to the Edwards’ home before the ball. “‘I am sorry for her anxieties,’ said Emma, ‘ — but I do not like her plans or her opinions. I shall be afraid of her. — She must have too masculine and a bold temper. — To be so bent on marriage — to pursue a man merely for the sake of situation — is a sort of thing that shocks me; I cannot understand it. . . . ‘” (page 110)Again we see Jane Austen’s insistence that marriage for wealth or improved situation are appalling, yet often done in society. Emma is a bit more outspoken than Elizabeth Bennet, while Elizabeth has a sense of duty to the family, much like Elinore in Sense & Sensibility. The sickly father is reminiscent of the father in Emma. In may ways, The Watsons seems to be a starting point for many of Austen’s novels or at least an earlier work that inspired her to keep writing.

[ncgraham_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like most readers, I came to these stories already in love with Jane Austen.I had probably seen them a hundred times in Barnes & Noble, separate or together, in various orders, with or without Northanger Abbey. And every time I passed them by, sometimes pausing to read the back cover, but never really getting a clear idea of what they were about or why I should read them. I daresay other Austen fans have done the same, and have always ended up returning to an old favorite, like Emma or Pride and Prejudice.Lady Susan is the only complete work of the lot and is, in my opinion at least, the most satisfying of them as well. It is a short epistolary novel that takes as its heroine (a dubious term in this instance) Lady Susan Vernon, a manipulative, flirtatious, and altogether shameless widow. Having wreaked chaos in the Manwaring household, she now seeks solace in the home of her brother-in-law. There she makes an enemy of his wife, flirts with their nephew Reginald, and continues to tyrannize her own daughter, Georgiana. Though the epistolary style at first seems to add yet another layer of reserve to Austen’s world, in the end it showcases her talent for the creation and individuation of a wide-ranging cast of characters; one particularly impressive letter features the Sir Reginald deCourcy’s advice to his son on love and marriage. Lady Susan herself is a fascinating character, so very evil and cunning that some of my classmates who were reading this at the same time as I thought her a bit of a cliché, but her very vibrancy overcomes whatever flaws may exist in the portrayal of her character. It fascinates me that, as a mere girl of twenty, Austen chose to write about a worldly thirty-five-year-old widow, while her more mature works tend to focus more upon young women who have only lately reached adulthood.Of the two fragments, The Watsons is probably the weaker, and for a while I thought I would not like it at all. It opens with a great deal of exposition, for its heroine, Emma Watson, has been away living with wealthy relatives for many years, and has only recently returned to the home of her father and sisters. Gradually, however, I warmed to the story, mostly due to the charms of its heroine. Though she may be too perfect for the tastes of many modern readers, Emma strikes me as a sort of ideal balance between Austen’s quieter heroines (Fanny Price, Anne Eliot) and her spunky, outspoken leading ladies (Elizabeth Bennett, Emma Woodhouse, Marianne Dashwood); she seems to know when to speak and when to be silent, and does neither out of turn. Moreover, she shows the kind of moral fiber one expects from an Austen heroine, with her actions towards young Charles at the ball emerging as truly laudatory.Sanditon is in many ways the opposite of the preceding piece. Although its heroine Charlotte has some very fine qualities, she is much less the focus of this fragment than Emma Watson was of hers; in fact, she serves mostly as an eyepiece by which the reader may look into the whimsical, ever-changing, hypocritical world of the seaside resort town. Though it delves into some weighty themes—hypochondria, the changing times, even planned seductions—they are all handled in a very ironic manner. It is at once a brighter and crueler view of the times than the down-to-earth, slightly sensational view afforded us by The Watsons. For me, the one really beautiful passage in this work occurs when Charlotte is driving up to Sanditon with Mr. and Mrs. Parker. They pass the Parker’s old abode on their way to the new, and Mr. Parker rattles on and on about the benefits of a contemporary, elegant, gardenless seaside home (‘Who can endure a cabbage patch in October?’). But Mrs. Parker interjects modestly that, despite such improvements, one still ‘loves to look at an old friend, at a place where one has been happy.’ Of the supporting characters, I have a particular and somewhat twisted liking for Sir Edward, who has read Richardson’s Clarissa one too many times and identifies a little too closely with Lovelace, the antihero. As a result, his object in life is to become a villain and seduce country women—!The main issue with both The Watsons and Sanditon is that they are fragments, and as such can never feel completely satisfying. This is especially so with Sanditon, which Austen left without any hints as to its ending. Even Lady Susan might have benefited from a little more development in one or two areas.These three works are none of them masterpieces, but I would certainly recommend them to anyone who loves Jane Austen as much as I do.

[princess0starr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Since this is three short works, I’ll tackle this individually.

Lady Susan: While it’s different to have a novel mostly told through the perspective of a villain—I hesitate to use antagonist—this is really over-the-top. Lady Susan pettily laughs, her daughter sobs every five seconds, and everyone else goes “Oh no! What a horrid woman!” It’s like if Catherine from Northanger Abbey tried writing a novel, with the wild characterization and the way the book ends.

The Watsons: The problem with this and Sandition is that the text just stops with little or none explanation or idea of where the plot was going. The Watsons starts off as atypical Austen—young lady in society, is courted by wealthy and handsome gentlemen, but the fact that the book stops right as the plot is really beginning makes it hard to connect with. The editor’s note of Austen’s plans for the book doesn’t reveal much, either, as there are only vague plot details.

Sandition: Much like The Watsons, the plot stops as it’s getting started, but we’re not left with a short description of what could have happened. While these give some different styles Jane Austen worked on during her life, I’m really not a fan of unfinished products, if only because it’s so jarring to have the book end and knowing that you can’t really recreate the rest.

[lucyb7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sandition, by Jane AustenAnother delightful short read by Austen. I can’t say enough about how much I revel in these brief , yet brilliant works. Sandition brought me the light read and humour I desperately needed after the meatier books I last dove into.Sandition, is the name of a new beach resort village in its coming of age. Because it is a relatively unknown area in need of new residents, travelers and reputable people-the then local entrepreneur, Tom Parker, starts up the story on a tour in search of a physician for his new community. Along the way (and due to a small injury) he must stop for help in a town – and lucky for him, the people are very welcoming and readily available for help. Mr. Parker and his wife, appreciating the warmth and kindness of these accidental hosts, as a gesture of appreciation, offer to take the daughter of Mr. Heywood (the main man who helped and hosted them) a Miss Charlotte Heywood, back with them as a guest in their home in Sandition.Charlotte is the heroine of this story and everything is pretty much seen through her eyes. In Sandition we meet such colourful characters as the very rich, elderly and twice-widowed, Lady Denham; her niece and nephew by her second husband, her cousin Clara- a beautiful and demure young lady. But- the funniest of all characters are Mr. Parker’s siblings who have endless ailments (all of them purel y made up). One of these, Diane (Parker’s sister) is on a mission to ‘fill up’ the town and in doing so, she is constantly busy and bustling around , leaving Charlotte to wonder if the illness isn’t but an act.Sadly (for me), the story ends abruptly with the arrival into Sandition, of the dashing Mr. Sidney, Parker’s brother . I say sadly because I was just getting into it- just when the characters started coming together for the meshing of a story line…Sandition has got me wondering how this one could have turned out. The characters are delightful and true to Austen’s originality and good sense of build up to a story that would surely have become another of her great masterpieces. It also saddens me to think that it was during this very year of writing Sandition that Jane Austen passed away.