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Sanditon and The Watsons: Austen's Unfinished Novels
One abandoned, one unfinished, these short works show Austen equally at home with romance and social change.
A widowed clergyman with four daughters must needs be in search of a husband or two, in The Watsons, as three badly behaved daughters search for husbands with the help of a recently reunited sister.
In Sanditon, the recently arrived Charlotte Heywood becomes enthralled with a new, commercial seaside resort's scandalous residents.
Typically touching, funny, charming and sharp.
4 hrs 29 min
A widowed clergyman with four daughters must needs be in search of a husband or two, in The Watsons, as three badly behaved daughters search for husbands with the help of a recently reunited sister.
In Sanditon, the recently arrived Charlotte Heywood becomes enthralled with a new, commercial seaside resort's scandalous residents.
Typically touching, funny, charming and sharp.
4 hrs 29 min
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1803
36 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Jane Austen
3,895 books74.4k followersJane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.
The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.
The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
May 22, 2012
Listening to this excellent audiobook of Jane Austen's incomplete novels very capably narrated by Anna Bentinck was a bittersweet experience. While I enjoyed Austen's customary sharp wit and social satire, it was impossible not to reflect on the circumstances which led to both novels being unfinished.
Austen started writing The Watsons in around 1803 and probably abandoned it around the time of her father's death in January 1805. It tells the story of Emma Watson, who returns to live with her father and sisters after the wealthy aunt who raised her contracts an imprudent second marriage. Had it been completed, it is clear that a major focus of the novel would have been the economic and social realities of life for women without independent means.
Austen was very ill when she started writing Sanditon in January 1817 and she completed eleven chapters before abandoning the novel two months later, only four months before her death. It is quite different from Austen's other novels. The novel explores the lives of families who live in Sanditon, a small watering place (probably based on Worthing) which is still in the process of development. Parts of Sanditon are extremely funny, particularly the account of the hypochondria and self-medication of two of the characters and the unstoppable enthusiasm for the development of Sanditon by another.
Both The Watsons and Sanditon have been finished by other writers and several versions of each of the novels exist. Maybe I'll get around to reading one of more of them one of these days. However, I'm in no real hurry to do so, as I'd rather read an incomplete work by Austen than a complete one by a writer trying to duplicate her style.
Given that the works are incomplete, it's not realistic to rate these books as highly as Austen's masterpieces and they fall into 3-1/2 star territory. However, they are definitely worthwhile reading for the Austen enthusiast.
May 28, 2016
¡Lo que daría por haber leído estos libros completos! Y aun así es imposible porque Austen, lamentablemente, no los terminó. Pertenecen a su etapa menos productiva. Como los textos fueron editados póstumamente, se puede detectar (incluso en español) la mano ajena y creo que esa es la razón de que no los haya calificado con la puntuación máxima.
Los Watson nos presenta un argumento similar al de Orgullo y prejuicio dado que Emma Watson (sí, se llama así), la protagonista, arma juicios muy severos sin conocer al hombre que es blanco de los comentarios negativos de su hermana. En Sanditon, en cambio, la historia se centra en un grupo de personas (conformado principalmente por la familia Parker) que vive en un pueblo al que tratan de “promocionar” como turístico por sus baños termales.
Estos dos bocetos, por llamarlos de alguna forma, constan de capítulos cortos pero son muy efectivos al momento de esbozar a los personajes. Empaticé con Emma, quien parece ser igual a Elizabeth Bennet pero no lo es, y Tom Musgrave, al cual me hubiera gustado conocer más. De Sanditon, pude extraer una galería de personajes muy rica que remite a otros (siempre está el personaje delicado de salud, por ejemplo) y, sin embargo, tiene sello propio. A lo que voy es que en pocos párrafos se nota que Austen ya tenía un planteo muy interesante y lúcido en su cabeza y sabía a dónde se dirigía. El problema obvio es que no hay finales y los conflictos principales apenas aparecen. No hay nada de malo en ello: es esperable que así sea.
En un punto me pregunté para qué estaba leyendo algo que no tenía conclusión, algo que la autora ni siquiera sabía si quería publicar o no ¿Podría haber vivido tranquilamente sin leer estos libros? No lo creo. No importa en dónde se haya quedado trunco el texto: leer a Jane Austen siempre es un placer.
Los Watson nos presenta un argumento similar al de Orgullo y prejuicio dado que Emma Watson (sí, se llama así), la protagonista, arma juicios muy severos sin conocer al hombre que es blanco de los comentarios negativos de su hermana. En Sanditon, en cambio, la historia se centra en un grupo de personas (conformado principalmente por la familia Parker) que vive en un pueblo al que tratan de “promocionar” como turístico por sus baños termales.
Estos dos bocetos, por llamarlos de alguna forma, constan de capítulos cortos pero son muy efectivos al momento de esbozar a los personajes. Empaticé con Emma, quien parece ser igual a Elizabeth Bennet pero no lo es, y Tom Musgrave, al cual me hubiera gustado conocer más. De Sanditon, pude extraer una galería de personajes muy rica que remite a otros (siempre está el personaje delicado de salud, por ejemplo) y, sin embargo, tiene sello propio. A lo que voy es que en pocos párrafos se nota que Austen ya tenía un planteo muy interesante y lúcido en su cabeza y sabía a dónde se dirigía. El problema obvio es que no hay finales y los conflictos principales apenas aparecen. No hay nada de malo en ello: es esperable que así sea.
En un punto me pregunté para qué estaba leyendo algo que no tenía conclusión, algo que la autora ni siquiera sabía si quería publicar o no ¿Podría haber vivido tranquilamente sin leer estos libros? No lo creo. No importa en dónde se haya quedado trunco el texto: leer a Jane Austen siempre es un placer.
November 15, 2025
I listened to the NAXOS / Blackstone Publishing audiobook edition of The Watsons and Sanditon, narrated by Anna Bentinck. I've previously listened to Bentinck's narration of Jane Eyre and enjoy her work. Both The Watsons and Sanditon are fragments of novels by Jane Austen, representing alternate ends of her writing career.
Jane Austen began work on the manuscript of The Watsons in 1803, while she was living in Bath, and abandoned it around the time of her father's death in early 1805. The surviving manuscript is about 80 pages (17,500 words) in length, not divided into chapters. It comprises a little over 40% (1:57) of this audiobook. Austen herself never gave the work a title, but her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh titled the fragment The Watsons when he first published it in 1871 in the second edition of his A Memoir of Jane Austen.
While the actual reason Austen abandoned the novel and never returned to it has been lost to history, it's speculated by Austen scholars that it was likely due to several factors. Firstly, the subject matter of the novel may have seemed to be too close to home when Austen found herself, together with her mother and sister, impecunious and dependent on the goodwill of relatives following her father's death. Others have suggested that Austen realised that she had "pitched" her heroine's prospects too low at the start of the novel, leaving insufficient possibility of a believable rise in fortunes and prospects. In any case, Austen re-used several of the characters and tropes she'd experimented with in The Watsons in her later published novels, including Pride and Prejudice, aspects of whose romantic hero Mr. Darcy are identifiable in The Watsons' Lord Osborne. She may even have reworked the core premise of The Watsons into her novel Emma, changing the narrative perspective to that of a high-born young lady, rather than the poor but well-educated and genteel Jane Fairfax, who resembles the fragment's heroine Emma Watson.
While I found many of the book's social observations amusing and adroit, it's very clear that this material is intended as the initial "setting the scene" of a longer work. The reader doesn't really get a chance to identify or sympathise with the heroine Emma Watson, although her unenviable social position is clearly evident. She's been separated from her birth family for 14 years, only recently returning to her ailing father's household following her rejection by an aunt, whose generous patronage of Emma has been curtailed on her re-marriage. The surviving fragment follows Emma's early forays into her father's Surrey neighbourhood. She attracts the notice of local nobility, Lord Osborne, as well as the charming Tom Musgrave, a favourite of more than one of her sisters before her. She also becomes acquainted with Miss Blake and her brother, the local vicar Mr. Howard, who secondary sources indicate was eventually to have become Emma's husband at the novel's end.
I felt far more engaged with the second and somewhat larger part of the audiobook, the first twelve chapters of a novel Austen titled The Brothers, but which was retitled as Sanditon when it was first published by Austen's descendants in 1925.
Sanditon is a fictional coastal town, likely based on Worthing, West Surrey, where Austen spent some time in 1805, as the resort was first being established. The fragment follows heroine Charlotte Heywood, who is invited to accompany the seaside resort's developer, Mr. Parker and his wife to stay at their seaside home. The twelve existing chapters (eleven completed and the twelfth unfinished) cover the circumstances in which Charlotte's family become acquainted with the Parkers, the journey to Sanditon and Charlotte's experiences in making the acquaintance of the town's residents and summer visitors. These include the imperious Lady Denham - Mr. Parker's business partner in the establishment of the seaside resort- her ward Clara Brereton, and Lady Denham's nephew by marriage Sir Edward Denham and his sister Esther. Soon arriving in Sanditon are Mr. Parker's two sisters and younger brother, who all claim to be invalids but whose habits and behaviour seem to contradict this. Following some confused expectation of important visitors, a small party of young women, including a West Indian heiress, Miss Lambe, also arrive, accompanied by their chaperone Mrs. Griffiths.
In the final chapter, Charlotte meets Mr. Parker's dashing brother Sidney en route to Sandition himself, and observes a tête-à-tête between Clara Brereton and Sir Edward Denham. The stage is set for many Austenesque shenanigans between eligible young adults of variable means in a coastal setting...
I felt far more engaged with the fragment of Sanditon than I did with that of The Watsons, and could easily detect Austen's maturing as a writer over the intervening years. I really wanted to know what would happen next, and had already built a clear picture of each of the characters and their foibles. That said, I'm not sure whether I'll watch the 2019 ITV/PBS miniseries that comprises an adaptation and continuation of Austen's story. I've heard quite mixed reviews, but believe it's been quite popular with viewers and a second series was commissioned.
I'd recommend The Watsons and Sanditon to any reader interested in broadening their experience of Jane Austen's body of work, as a comparative exercise between her earlier and later work, and, in the case of The Watsons for a game of "pick the parallel" with her later full-length novels.
Jane Austen began work on the manuscript of The Watsons in 1803, while she was living in Bath, and abandoned it around the time of her father's death in early 1805. The surviving manuscript is about 80 pages (17,500 words) in length, not divided into chapters. It comprises a little over 40% (1:57) of this audiobook. Austen herself never gave the work a title, but her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh titled the fragment The Watsons when he first published it in 1871 in the second edition of his A Memoir of Jane Austen.
While the actual reason Austen abandoned the novel and never returned to it has been lost to history, it's speculated by Austen scholars that it was likely due to several factors. Firstly, the subject matter of the novel may have seemed to be too close to home when Austen found herself, together with her mother and sister, impecunious and dependent on the goodwill of relatives following her father's death. Others have suggested that Austen realised that she had "pitched" her heroine's prospects too low at the start of the novel, leaving insufficient possibility of a believable rise in fortunes and prospects. In any case, Austen re-used several of the characters and tropes she'd experimented with in The Watsons in her later published novels, including Pride and Prejudice, aspects of whose romantic hero Mr. Darcy are identifiable in The Watsons' Lord Osborne. She may even have reworked the core premise of The Watsons into her novel Emma, changing the narrative perspective to that of a high-born young lady, rather than the poor but well-educated and genteel Jane Fairfax, who resembles the fragment's heroine Emma Watson.
While I found many of the book's social observations amusing and adroit, it's very clear that this material is intended as the initial "setting the scene" of a longer work. The reader doesn't really get a chance to identify or sympathise with the heroine Emma Watson, although her unenviable social position is clearly evident. She's been separated from her birth family for 14 years, only recently returning to her ailing father's household following her rejection by an aunt, whose generous patronage of Emma has been curtailed on her re-marriage. The surviving fragment follows Emma's early forays into her father's Surrey neighbourhood. She attracts the notice of local nobility, Lord Osborne, as well as the charming Tom Musgrave, a favourite of more than one of her sisters before her. She also becomes acquainted with Miss Blake and her brother, the local vicar Mr. Howard, who secondary sources indicate was eventually to have become Emma's husband at the novel's end.
I felt far more engaged with the second and somewhat larger part of the audiobook, the first twelve chapters of a novel Austen titled The Brothers, but which was retitled as Sanditon when it was first published by Austen's descendants in 1925.
Sanditon is a fictional coastal town, likely based on Worthing, West Surrey, where Austen spent some time in 1805, as the resort was first being established. The fragment follows heroine Charlotte Heywood, who is invited to accompany the seaside resort's developer, Mr. Parker and his wife to stay at their seaside home. The twelve existing chapters (eleven completed and the twelfth unfinished) cover the circumstances in which Charlotte's family become acquainted with the Parkers, the journey to Sanditon and Charlotte's experiences in making the acquaintance of the town's residents and summer visitors. These include the imperious Lady Denham - Mr. Parker's business partner in the establishment of the seaside resort- her ward Clara Brereton, and Lady Denham's nephew by marriage Sir Edward Denham and his sister Esther. Soon arriving in Sanditon are Mr. Parker's two sisters and younger brother, who all claim to be invalids but whose habits and behaviour seem to contradict this. Following some confused expectation of important visitors, a small party of young women, including a West Indian heiress, Miss Lambe, also arrive, accompanied by their chaperone Mrs. Griffiths.
In the final chapter, Charlotte meets Mr. Parker's dashing brother Sidney en route to Sandition himself, and observes a tête-à-tête between Clara Brereton and Sir Edward Denham. The stage is set for many Austenesque shenanigans between eligible young adults of variable means in a coastal setting...
I felt far more engaged with the fragment of Sanditon than I did with that of The Watsons, and could easily detect Austen's maturing as a writer over the intervening years. I really wanted to know what would happen next, and had already built a clear picture of each of the characters and their foibles. That said, I'm not sure whether I'll watch the 2019 ITV/PBS miniseries that comprises an adaptation and continuation of Austen's story. I've heard quite mixed reviews, but believe it's been quite popular with viewers and a second series was commissioned.
I'd recommend The Watsons and Sanditon to any reader interested in broadening their experience of Jane Austen's body of work, as a comparative exercise between her earlier and later work, and, in the case of The Watsons for a game of "pick the parallel" with her later full-length novels.
January 20, 2022
2.5 - 3 stars (for potential and what might have been)
This review is for Sanditon only.
All the onus is on me for reading a novel, an Austen even, that's unfinished. So unfinished that it hardly started. You could say we got all the world buiding and 2% plot and characterisation that I imagine would be in the final piece. It ended when I believe the love interest appeared, talk about forever delayed gratification.
"Sidney is a saucy fellow, Miss Heywood." ...do tell!
What I did read was kind of boring in the main but it did have some odd sparks of amusement. Proud male characterisation, women with strange and chronic maladies and one quote absolutely had this nurse here with eyes wide and shuddering.
She has been suffering much from the headache, and six leeches a day for ten days together relieved her so little that we thought it right to change our measures, and being convinced on examination that much of the evil lay in her gum, I persuaded her to attack the disorder there. She has accordingly had three teeth drawn, and is decidedly better, but her nerves are a good deal deranged."
If like me you wanted to read the 'book' before watching the TV series, don't bother, just watch the series.
This review is for Sanditon only.
All the onus is on me for reading a novel, an Austen even, that's unfinished. So unfinished that it hardly started. You could say we got all the world buiding and 2% plot and characterisation that I imagine would be in the final piece. It ended when I believe the love interest appeared, talk about forever delayed gratification.
"Sidney is a saucy fellow, Miss Heywood." ...do tell!
What I did read was kind of boring in the main but it did have some odd sparks of amusement. Proud male characterisation, women with strange and chronic maladies and one quote absolutely had this nurse here with eyes wide and shuddering.
She has been suffering much from the headache, and six leeches a day for ten days together relieved her so little that we thought it right to change our measures, and being convinced on examination that much of the evil lay in her gum, I persuaded her to attack the disorder there. She has accordingly had three teeth drawn, and is decidedly better, but her nerves are a good deal deranged."
If like me you wanted to read the 'book' before watching the TV series, don't bother, just watch the series.
May 20, 2020
Qué pena que no estén terminadas estas dos historias!
Aparte de que no existe el "demasiado Jane Austen" para mí, me hubiera encantado leerlas enteras. Como a tanta gente, imagino.
Se nota mucho la diferencia de tiempo entre Los Watson y Sanditon. Están escritas muy diferente, Los Watson casi parece una práctica o un boceto (aunque lindo), y me queda la duda de si las frases breves intercaladas como de relleno son de ella o de alguien que metió pezuña para "completarlo" y darle continuidad a los diálogos.
Sanditon por otro lado, la inconclusa por fuerza mayor, tiene esa chispa, ese sarcasmo y esa capacidad de hacerte leer con interés historias que realmente no lo tendrían. Con la familia más hipocondríaca hasta ahora, y creo que la protagonista más cínica (y aún así muy querible), es un argumento bastante diferente a sus otros libros. Cómo me hubiera gustado leerla completa.
Es agridulce, porque sabés que no vas a leer historias completas y aún así estás completamente adentro.
Aparte de que no existe el "demasiado Jane Austen" para mí, me hubiera encantado leerlas enteras. Como a tanta gente, imagino.
Se nota mucho la diferencia de tiempo entre Los Watson y Sanditon. Están escritas muy diferente, Los Watson casi parece una práctica o un boceto (aunque lindo), y me queda la duda de si las frases breves intercaladas como de relleno son de ella o de alguien que metió pezuña para "completarlo" y darle continuidad a los diálogos.
Sanditon por otro lado, la inconclusa por fuerza mayor, tiene esa chispa, ese sarcasmo y esa capacidad de hacerte leer con interés historias que realmente no lo tendrían. Con la familia más hipocondríaca hasta ahora, y creo que la protagonista más cínica (y aún así muy querible), es un argumento bastante diferente a sus otros libros. Cómo me hubiera gustado leerla completa.
Es agridulce, porque sabés que no vas a leer historias completas y aún así estás completamente adentro.
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April 14, 2020It would be weird and unfair to rate an unfinished story, but oh even the raw, unedited, unalloyed beginnings of an Austen tale have that little magic touch that makes you want to follow those characters all the way to their end. Recommended for all Austen enthusiasts.
February 23, 2017
I hear Jane's voice and I want to know more-- in both cases...I want to know more. That is all.
July 18, 2017
This little gem was published in 1934 and reprinted in this 1978 edition. It has book mold, but I am not telling. I would only tell if I were going to buy another copy and donate it to the library. Alas, that is not in my power today. (I have been reading too much 19th century lit if I am talking and writing like that!) So I will simply return the book and wish it well.
Included in this gem is Cancelled Chapter of 'Persuasion' and a plan for a novel, something Austen was scribbling. Great Inclusion is the plan because it shows how Austen did take ideas from friends and family and included them in this plan, perhaps many or all her writing plans. Just good to know Austen used her resources of educated and reading people.
The other selections: Sandition, The Watsons and Lady Susan, all selections that either I already have written reviews for or will write reviews for now.
Included in this gem is Cancelled Chapter of 'Persuasion' and a plan for a novel, something Austen was scribbling. Great Inclusion is the plan because it shows how Austen did take ideas from friends and family and included them in this plan, perhaps many or all her writing plans. Just good to know Austen used her resources of educated and reading people.
The other selections: Sandition, The Watsons and Lady Susan, all selections that either I already have written reviews for or will write reviews for now.
November 26, 2022
I feel like a total hypocrite rating these books so low, considering Austen is my favorite author. Maybe part of the reason I rated them so low is because I listened to them on Scribed and couldn't give them my undivided attention. It didn't help that The Watsons remained unfinished at the time of Austen's death. I think both of these books were noticeably shorter than her other popular works and, as such, had less time for her to develop characters and show off her trademark wit.
These were the only two main works by Austen I haven't read and I'm glad I've checked these off my list, countless years after reading the rest of her cannon.
These were the only two main works by Austen I haven't read and I'm glad I've checked these off my list, countless years after reading the rest of her cannon.
September 12, 2022
**This review is for The Watsons only.***
I've read Jane Austen's novels many times but I wanted to read the rest of her short stories and unfinished novels, so that's what I've been working on. The Watsons really made me feel what the world missed out on from Jane dying so young and made me appreciate what a lovely gift it is that we have the stories we have.
I was instantly drawn into the world of the Watsons and would've loved to see where the story led. I enjoyed it much more than Sandition.
I've read Jane Austen's novels many times but I wanted to read the rest of her short stories and unfinished novels, so that's what I've been working on. The Watsons really made me feel what the world missed out on from Jane dying so young and made me appreciate what a lovely gift it is that we have the stories we have.
I was instantly drawn into the world of the Watsons and would've loved to see where the story led. I enjoyed it much more than Sandition.
November 22, 2025
The Watsons is easily 5 stars. I would have devoured an entire novel. I'd give Sanditon 3 stars, but that is only because it ended too soon. Unfortunately, the world lost Austen right as the real story in Sanditon began. 4 star average.
November 29, 2018
Just as you started to get really into these stories, they end, never to be finished! If only Jane Austen had lived longer! Sanditon was more in 18th century style but The Watsons was really shaping up into a classic! I wish I could have read more!
May 29, 2023
Sanditon & The Watsons: Jane Austen’s unfinished novels-3.5⭐️
I’m a massive Austen fan, I’ve read Pride & Prejudice (1 of my faves- 5⭐️), Emma (5⭐️), Mansfield Park (5⭐️), Sense & Sensibility (4⭐️), Northanger Abbey (4⭐️), Persuasion (4⭐️) & The Beautiful Cassandra (3⭐️) & watched the adaptations many times. So I knew if there’s any unread works, I need to get to it! This 112 page book is all the unfinished works as Jane got ill soon after & unfortunately passed away. We were studying Addison’s disease in my class, & it’s hypothesized that she might’ve had it. I’ll share some interesting articles on the book on my story/highlight. I got this for 180’000 rial at the shahre ketab (city of books) store in Tehran, Iran. Growing up, this was my fave place, being filled with books & stationary items. The book is divided into 1. biographic note by Henry Austen. 2. Sanditon (12 chapters; pg. 15-55), originally called The Brothers. This showcases human folly in a humorous way. I like Charlotte, she has common sense. Mr. Parker is obsessed with Sanditon & land, his wife is useless, his relatives are hypochondriacs. They are vain, self-obsessed & go for “quack meds”, thinking they are benevolent over all. Lady D is stingy & uses her wealth & power over her relatives. Don’t even get me started on romantic Sir E, he is silly. I wish this was complete
The Watsons (55-112): Hahah the main character is Emma Watson. I enjoyed this one more than story 1. I like Emma, I’m sad her uncle died & her aunt remarried, now she is back to a house willed with sisters who are willing to throw each other under the bus for a womanizing man, again wish it was complete. If you’re interested https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
I’m a massive Austen fan, I’ve read Pride & Prejudice (1 of my faves- 5⭐️), Emma (5⭐️), Mansfield Park (5⭐️), Sense & Sensibility (4⭐️), Northanger Abbey (4⭐️), Persuasion (4⭐️) & The Beautiful Cassandra (3⭐️) & watched the adaptations many times. So I knew if there’s any unread works, I need to get to it! This 112 page book is all the unfinished works as Jane got ill soon after & unfortunately passed away. We were studying Addison’s disease in my class, & it’s hypothesized that she might’ve had it. I’ll share some interesting articles on the book on my story/highlight. I got this for 180’000 rial at the shahre ketab (city of books) store in Tehran, Iran. Growing up, this was my fave place, being filled with books & stationary items. The book is divided into 1. biographic note by Henry Austen. 2. Sanditon (12 chapters; pg. 15-55), originally called The Brothers. This showcases human folly in a humorous way. I like Charlotte, she has common sense. Mr. Parker is obsessed with Sanditon & land, his wife is useless, his relatives are hypochondriacs. They are vain, self-obsessed & go for “quack meds”, thinking they are benevolent over all. Lady D is stingy & uses her wealth & power over her relatives. Don’t even get me started on romantic Sir E, he is silly. I wish this was complete
The Watsons (55-112): Hahah the main character is Emma Watson. I enjoyed this one more than story 1. I like Emma, I’m sad her uncle died & her aunt remarried, now she is back to a house willed with sisters who are willing to throw each other under the bus for a womanizing man, again wish it was complete. If you’re interested https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
February 18, 2013
Today I finished this incomplete work by Austen ( one of my favorite writers), and it is difficult to rate it. I was forever wondering where she would have taken her characters and what her revision style was. Did she simply write a novel from beginning to end and then go back to add, subtract, multiply an divide? Did she work from an outline and, if so, is there a record of that? It is certain that would have imposed those disciplines on herself as these characters are far from fully fleshed (well, except for Arthur who was most definitely fully fleshed). Nobody I much cared about but, again, that must be due to the truncated novel. Interesting outlook on seaside development. What would she have thought if she lived in this day and age and had a look at Dunfanaghy in Co. Donegal! Also some interesting outlooks on the habits of the hypochondriac. Would have loved more from her on that. Alas.
May 26, 2012
As soon as I heard about these I pounced. Thanks to my Goodreads friend, and fellow Jane Austen enthusiast, Kim, for that! What a treat it is to submit to the humor and insight of the master satirist once more. And how painful it is to whet your appetite only to have the plate snatched away before you are sated. Oh well, be grateful for even the tiniest tidbit of Austen prose. Of the two, I was more taken with The Watsons. Although Sanditon had the potential for her to cast a wider net for her arch commentary on the foibles of guests at a seaside resort, the setting of The Watsons was more typical and seemed more authentic. If you're looking for an excellent analysis of both read Kim's recent review.
August 9, 2022
Great read, but of course it's shame we don't have these novels completed. I think I was more invested in The Watsons than Sanditon (took me a while with these one to pick my interested) but it was interesting to see as a JA fan the differences writing style between the two manuscripts. The Watsons is more fast paced like Pride & Prejudice and her early novels while Sanditon use some chapters for world building and one of the main characters just appears in chapter twelve. It worth the read for sure!
July 8, 2014
Es una lástima que la vida y las circunstancias de esta autora nos hayan dejado solo seis obras completas para disfrutar. Por suerte tenemos estos trabajos, cortitos y sin terminar pero que permiten estirar un poco el talento de Miss Jane Austen.
February 8, 2022
I would love to know the end of both these stories!
December 22, 2025
I am glad I listened to these because I think they would be hard to get into hard copy. I can definitely see the potential in these stories but the finished finesse of her completed novels isn't there.
The Watsons (which is the earlier one) definitely felt more juvenile. I didn't love the characters although I was intrigued by Emma's situation and have read that Jane Austen had plans for the novel but she never completed them. The potential in the story was there but so many of the characters are difficult to connect with our cheer for.
Sanditon was my favorite of the two. I am intrigued by the story especially the rise of a coastal tourist town. The characters were easier to connect with and I was more invested in their stories. I felt like the connections between characters were more interesting as well as the hierarchy of rank and fortune. I wonder where Jane would have taken this story.
I could definitely see flashes of Austen's classic wit, characterization, and charm in these fragments. If she had the time and strength and inspiration to finish these, I think they would have been well worth reading.
Glad to have read them as I finish her collected works in 2025!
The Watsons (which is the earlier one) definitely felt more juvenile. I didn't love the characters although I was intrigued by Emma's situation and have read that Jane Austen had plans for the novel but she never completed them. The potential in the story was there but so many of the characters are difficult to connect with our cheer for.
Sanditon was my favorite of the two. I am intrigued by the story especially the rise of a coastal tourist town. The characters were easier to connect with and I was more invested in their stories. I felt like the connections between characters were more interesting as well as the hierarchy of rank and fortune. I wonder where Jane would have taken this story.
I could definitely see flashes of Austen's classic wit, characterization, and charm in these fragments. If she had the time and strength and inspiration to finish these, I think they would have been well worth reading.
Glad to have read them as I finish her collected works in 2025!
March 28, 2020
The Watsons was ok, apparently her plans for it were used in later novels.
Sanditon (Austen was thinking of calling it The Brothers) was very different from her other works. Seems to have more mentions of the people working for the middle classed characters. More chapters concentrating on a male character than her other works. Mr. Parker, a father trying to provide for his family in a tough business venture, seems to be given as much or more attention as the young unmarried Charlotte who in other Austen works would be the clear main character.
Of course it is sad to get to the end of this unfinished work. Obviously it would have been wonderful if Austen could have finished this, polished it with her sparkling wit, and lived a lovely long life. The PBS mini series did a good job spinning it out but there were quite a few historical inaccuracies...the show and work both leave you unsatisfied but hey, an Austen fanatic during the COVID 19 “stay at home” order has to do *something*, right?
Sanditon (Austen was thinking of calling it The Brothers) was very different from her other works. Seems to have more mentions of the people working for the middle classed characters. More chapters concentrating on a male character than her other works. Mr. Parker, a father trying to provide for his family in a tough business venture, seems to be given as much or more attention as the young unmarried Charlotte who in other Austen works would be the clear main character.
Of course it is sad to get to the end of this unfinished work. Obviously it would have been wonderful if Austen could have finished this, polished it with her sparkling wit, and lived a lovely long life. The PBS mini series did a good job spinning it out but there were quite a few historical inaccuracies...the show and work both leave you unsatisfied but hey, an Austen fanatic during the COVID 19 “stay at home” order has to do *something*, right?
November 10, 2017
Empecé sabiendo que en este libro había dos obras no terminadas de Jane Austen.
Lo sabía pero no me importaba porque quería leer todo, TODO, lo que había escrito y quizás, subestimé las ideas por el solo hecho de no estar terminadas.
Ahora, que terminé el libro, estoy desconsolada.
Me parte el alma pensar que una historia tan buena como "The Watson" nunca llegue a tener un final y logre un libro publicado por si misma. No solo porque los personajes me gustaron al punto de "Orgullo y Prejuicio" sino porque tiene tintes autobiográficos y eso hizo que me encariñe más con la sentimientos y situaciones de Emma, la protagonista.
En el caso de Sandition, me pareció reconocer, por momentos, rastros de aquel humor con el que Austen comenzó, allá por "Northanger Abby", pero el hecho de poner el acento en enfermedades me recordó también que esa misma fue la causa por la cual ella no pudo terminar de escribirlo. La enfermedad la venció.
En resumen, son dos historias que satisfacen mi necesidad de leer más de Jane, pero me dejan un gusto amargo, un suspiro de tristeza.
Lo sabía pero no me importaba porque quería leer todo, TODO, lo que había escrito y quizás, subestimé las ideas por el solo hecho de no estar terminadas.
Ahora, que terminé el libro, estoy desconsolada.
Me parte el alma pensar que una historia tan buena como "The Watson" nunca llegue a tener un final y logre un libro publicado por si misma. No solo porque los personajes me gustaron al punto de "Orgullo y Prejuicio" sino porque tiene tintes autobiográficos y eso hizo que me encariñe más con la sentimientos y situaciones de Emma, la protagonista.
En el caso de Sandition, me pareció reconocer, por momentos, rastros de aquel humor con el que Austen comenzó, allá por "Northanger Abby", pero el hecho de poner el acento en enfermedades me recordó también que esa misma fue la causa por la cual ella no pudo terminar de escribirlo. La enfermedad la venció.
En resumen, son dos historias que satisfacen mi necesidad de leer más de Jane, pero me dejan un gusto amargo, un suspiro de tristeza.
February 1, 2024
I listened to these unfinished novels on audio book, so that might have played into my feelings on Sanditon. The characters were highly annoying, and it seemed they rambled on for pages about their ridiculous opinions. It was like listening to Mrs. Bennett on excessive amounts of caffeine. 😅
I really liked the Watsons, however, and was very disappointed when the story ended before it even got a much of a start. I am going to find a finished version to read.
I really liked the Watsons, however, and was very disappointed when the story ended before it even got a much of a start. I am going to find a finished version to read.
December 20, 2022
He llorado por no tener el final de Sanditon. Los 11 primeros (y únicos) capítulos que escribió fueron preciosos, y parecía que la historia cogería un buen ritmo.
Dejamos las cosas a medias cuando nos morimos y esté libro es un buen ejemplo de ello. Un boceto tan precioso de lo que puedo haber sido una gran obra
Dejamos las cosas a medias cuando nos morimos y esté libro es un buen ejemplo de ello. Un boceto tan precioso de lo que puedo haber sido una gran obra
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November 12, 2023It feels wrong to rate these, since they're unfinished novels. It was fun to see what else Jane Austen had up her sleeve. I got really into The Watsons, and I'm sad I'll never know what happens. Sanditon felt much more like an early draft. I don't know what Austen would think of this, but I really enjoyed the BBC mini-series Sanditon, which fills out and finishes the story Austen began.
August 17, 2019
Happy to have finally read this before Sanditon spoilers start coming out! (Why can't the world watch shows at the same time?!) A very creative idea for a novel, it is a shame we didn't get the full story.
April 10, 2022
Niestety nie mogę dać więcej, ponieważ obie historie nie zostały dokończone, ale miały potencjał (zwłaszcza Sanditon)
April 26, 2023
One wonders when a Watsons miniseries will debut on Masterpiece...
May 12, 2020
Austen's writing is, again, masterful and funny. If only she had been able to finish these stories!
July 13, 2020
Tuve la oportunidad de leer este librito editado por Galerna Argentina este año. Los Watson en el verano (2 de Febrero 2020) y Sanditon durante el período de aislamiento social y sanitario (06 de julio del 2020) Ambos se leen rápido.Son dos obras "inconclusas" de Jane Austen. Me gustaría poder volver a leerlas en su idioma original.
En esta oportunidad voy dejar mis impresiones acerca de
♡Sanditon
On 18 March 1817, Jane Austen laid down her pen, setting aside twelve chapters of the unfinished manuscript later titled "Sanditon"
Exactly 4 months later, on 18 july she died in Winchester following a long illness
Esta inconclusa historia se publicó póstumamente más de cincuenta años después de la muerte de la autora, como parte de "A memoir of Jane Austen", libro publicado por su sobrino Edward Austen-Leigh
Relato breve inconcluso aunque delicioso. Destaco dos personajes que me cayeron muy bien de entrada: Charlotte Heywood y Tom Parker
"Sanditon:el balneario más próspero de todos,el preferido de la costa de Sussex"
Los Parker invitan a la joven señorita Charlotte de Willingden a pasar una temporada con ellos en el balneario de Sanditon . Allí conocerá , a la familia del Sr. Parker , los vecinos del lugar entre otros. Todos representan variados personajes que la autora nos muestra con sus distintas falencias y virtudes. Descriptos de esa manera sagaz e irónica que Jane Austen usa en su escritura .
Mucha correspondencia, literatura, brisa marina, campo, malentendidos y algún romance secreto.
"El aire marino y los baños de mar constituían un remedio casi infalible..."
En esta oportunidad voy dejar mis impresiones acerca de
♡Sanditon
On 18 March 1817, Jane Austen laid down her pen, setting aside twelve chapters of the unfinished manuscript later titled "Sanditon"
Exactly 4 months later, on 18 july she died in Winchester following a long illness
Esta inconclusa historia se publicó póstumamente más de cincuenta años después de la muerte de la autora, como parte de "A memoir of Jane Austen", libro publicado por su sobrino Edward Austen-Leigh
Relato breve inconcluso aunque delicioso. Destaco dos personajes que me cayeron muy bien de entrada: Charlotte Heywood y Tom Parker
"Sanditon:el balneario más próspero de todos,el preferido de la costa de Sussex"
Los Parker invitan a la joven señorita Charlotte de Willingden a pasar una temporada con ellos en el balneario de Sanditon . Allí conocerá , a la familia del Sr. Parker , los vecinos del lugar entre otros. Todos representan variados personajes que la autora nos muestra con sus distintas falencias y virtudes. Descriptos de esa manera sagaz e irónica que Jane Austen usa en su escritura .
Mucha correspondencia, literatura, brisa marina, campo, malentendidos y algún romance secreto.
"El aire marino y los baños de mar constituían un remedio casi infalible..."
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