Austen, Jane: Lady Susan /The Watsons / Sanditon

Series: The Penguin English Library

'She has poured forth her tender tale of love in vain, and exposed herself forever to the contempt of the whole world.'

These three short works from across Jane Austen's career show her writing in a variety of styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with several men. The Watsons is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine finds her marriage opportunities restricted by poverty and pride. Written in thw last months of Austen's life, the tantalizing incomplete novel Sandinton features a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and speculators in a newly established seaside resort, and shows the author contemplating a changing society with scepticism and amusement.

'In [Sandinton] she exploits her greatest gifts… The book feels open and modern… as vigorous and inventive as her earlier work.' – Carol Shields

Edited with an introduction and notes by Margaret Drabble.