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Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon

by Jane Austen, Margaret Drabble (Introduction)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 2,509 ratings · 186 reviews

'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 show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying wit...more

Paperback, 224 pages

Published March 30th 1975 by Penguin Classics (first published 1871)

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Nov 09, 2009 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sandition, by Jane Austen

Uncompleted, Sandition was the last of Jane Austen’s work.

Another 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...more Sandition, by Jane Austen

Uncompleted, Sandition was the last of Jane Austen’s work.

Another 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.(less)

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Feb 09, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic

This is the first I have ever heard of these three writings of Jane Austen. I have been a fan of her writings for many years and I was surprised to find other stories that I have read. Lady Susan was a very curious book, I guess one calls it an epistolary novel, but it was quite different than other writings by Jane Austen. I was deeply captured by The Watsons, I would have been delighted even more if it had been a complete novel. I would have loved to see the end results of such a story that ha...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Gale rated it 3 of 5 stars

“Is She Jane Austen’s Anti Heroine?”

Unlike Austen’s usual sweet-young-thing heroines, this title character appears as the antithesis of what we expect from a literary protagonist. Perhaps the author sought to instruct or to edify female readers by presenting a thoroughly vain and heartless woman of thirty-something.
Her reputation as a Flirt and Coquette (despite being widowed a scant four months) precedes her wherever she visits. Lady Susan is very attractive to men of all variety, from the to...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an omnibus of Jane Austen’s unpublished novel, Lady Susan, with two unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon.
Lady Susan was written early in Austen’s writing career, around the time she was writing Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, and is in the format of letters. Lady Susan Vernon, finding herself in straitened circumstances after the death of her ailing husband, is forced to put her sixteen-year-old daughter into school and live with her brother-in-law...more This is an omnibus of Jane Austen’s unpublished novel, Lady Susan, with two unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon.
Lady Susan was written early in Austen’s writing career, around the time she was writing Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, and is in the format of letters. Lady Susan Vernon, finding herself in straitened circumstances after the death of her ailing husband, is forced to put her sixteen-year-old daughter into school and live with her brother-in-law, Charles Vernon, and his wife Catherine, at Churchill. Lady Susan is beautiful, charming and artful; her letters show she is also extravagant, scheming, manipulative and selfish, although she is adept at hiding this from those she seeks to influence. A very short novel, by Austen standards, and not a format that showcases her writing talent, this novel still amply illustrates her mastery of plot and character.
The Watsons is a fragment of the novel written when Austen’s family moved from Steventon to Bath, an unhappy period in her life. Emma Watson, youngest of the Watson girls, has lived with her aunt and uncle for fourteen years. When her uncle dies and her aunt remarries, her expected inheritance disappears and she has to return to the family home: an ailing father, and three sisters she does not know. Invited by well-off friends, the Edwards, to town and a ball, Emma meets a cast of characters who are to influence her future. The Watson family is a humble one by Austen’s usual standards, although the heroine shows great promise and the plot has endless possibilities. While it is frustrating to not know the ending, the reading is, nonetheless, pleasurable.
Sanditon is a fragment of the last novel Austen ever wrote, written at the time of Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Emma. A carriage accident in which Tom Parker sprains his ankle as he and his wife Mary are returning to the seaside town of Sanditon begins the long and important acquaintance between the Parkers and the Heywood family. The eldest Heywood daughter, 22 year old Charlotte, is exhorted to accompany the Parkers back to Sandition to benefit from taking the sea air and to bathe. What follows is Charlotte’s impressions of the extended Parker family and the residents of Sanditon who are committed to making their town a popular vacation spot for families. The characters are comical and the plot has great potential; a great shame that it was unfinished due to Austen’s illness and death. However short, the quality of the writing is still apparent.
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May 23, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jane Austen Fans

Shelves: classics, fiction, novels, romance

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. (And incidentally, if you have the version with an introduction with Margaret Drabble, you might want to read it aftewards--she gives too much away...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Piperitapitta added it · review of another edition

Shelves: autrici-uk, letteratura-uk, racconti, my-e-book

Lady Susan *****
[inizio lettura 11/04/2013 - fine lettura 12/04/2013]

Perfida e adorabile Jane Austen che con Lady Susan dà vita alla più manipolatrice tra le donne riuscendo persino nell'impresa di fartela amare e fare il tifo per lei e per i suoi matrimoni: quelli che s'hanno da fare quelli che non s'hanno da fare, senza riuscire a capire, fino alla fine, quali siano gli uni e quali gli altri.
Il tutto attraverso uno scambio epistolare incrociato.

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Aug 10, 2012 Gigi Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Gigi Ann by: Jane Austen Fans

Jane Austen's The Watsons (1871) was written around 1803-1805. It presents the story of Emma Watson's return to her family after a long time away. Facing severe financial problems, the only hope for this family of four daughters and an invalid father is to get the girls married before their father's death. Though Austen did not complete this work, the fragment includes a segment by her nephew commenting on how she intended to finish the novel.

There are a few books that some authors have taken th...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Luu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, je-v-preklade, adult, stand-alone

Lady Susan * * * *
Prvý román v listoch, ktorý som čítala (škoda, že pred dvoma týždňami som si na skúške nevedela na žiaden spomenúť). Hlavné postavy sú dve švagriné, ktoré sú naoko jedna k druhej ako med, ale zároveň obe vypisujú listy, kde jedna druhú ohovárajú :) Po počiatočnom zmätku kto-čo-kde sa to číta veľmi dobre, pokrytectvo všetkých hrdinov je zábavné (no, viete, ako to myslím) a mne sa to páčilo viac, ako som čakala.

Watsonovci * * *
Emma Watsonová (che!) sa prvý krát zúčastní na veľkom...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Chiarar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tre opere che non ha potuto concludere.
Lady Susan: all'inizio era strano leggere tutto in forma epistolare, anche perchè c'erano diversi punti di vista, diverse opinioni, ma alla fine la storia mi ha conquistato comunque, peccato si fermi sul più bello!
I Watson: delle tre è quella che mi è piaciuta di più. Forse la povertà della famiglia protagonista mi ha portato ad affezzionarmi subito alle due sorelle, le altre due sono decisamente insopportabili. Emma torna a casa dal padre malato e dalla so...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Lily C rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, classics

An early epistolary novel and two unfinished works--none of them very well-known, but all well worth reading for anyone who's loved Austen's other stories.

Lady Susan is brief and entertaining. Its title character is a worldly, willful woman whose unfeeling amorality is almost cartoonish. She reminded me of both the lovely and manipulative Mary Crawford and the domineering Catherine de Bourgh, but Susan probably stands alone as the character whose treachery and hunger for power are the most obvi...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Wayne rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: All Austen Fans

Shelves: english-classic-lit, jane-austen

There is a certain melancholy attached to reading some of this volume. I refer naturally to "Sanditon", which holds such promise and a new direction for Jane Austen's writing.
Of course when some well-intentioned fan decides to complete the work, it only serves to rub salt into the wound!!!

"Lady Susan" was a shock back in 1979.
(I was in England and reading it when we visited Jane's last home at Chawton.)
I hadn't come across any of the Juvenilia before and wasn't mad about it.
But now, after some...more

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Jan 23, 2009 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was fun to read about a vindictive main character in Lady Susan and the letter writing style made it even more intriguing.

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Jul 24, 2011 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a little collection of Jane Austen works that went unpublished during her lifetime. In it there's the complete novella 'Lady Susan' and two unfinished novels: 'The Watsons' and 'Sanditon'. None of these stories are as good as her novels so I wouldn't particularly recommend them to newcomers or casual fans. For die-hard Austen fans though, like myself, this is a very interesting and worthwhile read! I quite liked Margaret Drabble's introduction as well. I don't generally comment on a...more This book is a little collection of Jane Austen works that went unpublished during her lifetime. In it there's the complete novella 'Lady Susan' and two unfinished novels: 'The Watsons' and 'Sanditon'. None of these stories are as good as her novels so I wouldn't particularly recommend them to newcomers or casual fans. For die-hard Austen fans though, like myself, this is a very interesting and worthwhile read! I quite liked Margaret Drabble's introduction as well. I don't generally comment on academic introductions to books because I generally find them quite stuffy but Drabble's was very informative and helped to put the texts into context.

Lady Susan - In some ways this is quite different to Austen's novels. It's written in epistolary form and the "heroine" is very different to the ones in Austen's other works. Austen's heroines are usually very likeable but Lady Susan herself is a scheming, deceitful, devious, selfish cow and an appalling mother. She has more in common with Lucy Steele, Isabella Thorpe and, in particular, Mary Crawford, than any of Austen's heroines. She is witty and intelligent though so she's not wholly without positive features. Through a series of letters we read about her plot to seduce and marry her brother-in-law; her effort to rekindle her affair with her married lover; and her attempt to force her daughter into marrying a man she detests. We also read about Lady Susan's sister-in-law, Mrs Vernon, and her efforts to stop all this from happening. This novella isn't on the same level as Austen's novels. Although it does have a good plot, and isn't without its witty moments, it's still not as amusing as Austen's other works. You can see why she later chose to write in third-person. Much of the humour in Austen's novels comes from the wry, detached narration and epistolary writing simply doesn't play to Austen's strengths as a writer as much. Still, this is a very interesting work as you can see Austen's emerging talents. It's also the most satisfactory story in this book as there's no frustrated sense of what might have been.

The Watsons - I was so disappointed when I got to the end of this one! It's very enjoyable and it's such a shame that Austen didn't get the chance to finish it (although my edition explains how Austen had planned it out). I reckon it would have been a great novel and right up there with Austen's best. It's funny and the plot is engaging. This is the story that's most in keeping with what you'd expect from Austen and the plot has elements of 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Mansfield Park' and 'Emma'. The heroine, Emma Watson, has gone back to live with her family after spending the last 14 years being happily brought up by her wealthy aunt. Emma begins to adapt to life with her sometimes vulgar family again and attracts the attention of three different men: the charmingly rakish Tom Musgrave, the cold Lord Osbourne, and the quiet, bookish Mr Howard. Emma Watson is very likeable. I liked her conversations with her sister Elizabeth, and her offering to dance with young Charles at the Ball was much like Knightley's asking Harriet Smith to dance in 'Emma' and a very kind thing to do. This story also has a major child character which is interesting as it's something that's unusual in Austen's other works.

Sanditon - Austen was working on this one in the last few months of her life. It pains me to say it, because I love Austen, but I wasn't very keen on it and it's my least favourite of the stories in this book. Even though it's much less clear how this story would have ended than 'The Watsons', I'm less saddened by the fact that it wasn't finished. The characters in this aren't as well-developed and endearing as those in Austen's other works although I did like Sir Edward Denham (very funny!) and the cheerful Mr Parker. The heroine, Charlotte Heywood, has some very likeable qualities (sensible, observant, etc) but she's a bit boring and 'Sanditon' is much less focused on her than 'The Watsons' is with Emma. Charlotte functions more as our observer into the comings-and-goings of the town and she herself isn't particularly interesting. However, I suppose if Austen had been able to continue with the story then she might have been able to develop the characters in better detail. 'Sanditon' is still worth a read as it's well-written and there's a particularly well-written description of Charlotte and the Parkers arriving into Sanditon.(less)

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Feb 26, 2009 Poe Bird rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Jul 08, 2009 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the past I have approached Austen books with a bit of doubt (don't all lynch me at once, please civilly take turns). She's such a great author, and although I love her plot setups sometimes I just have a hard time "getting into" a few of of her characters.

However, this small collection gave me no difficulty at all. I was caught up in the stories immediately and couldn't put the book down. I only read the first two, Lady Susan and The Watsons, because it got returned to the library "oops" a bi...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Annette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-classics-club-challenge, austen-in-august-2012

Lady Susan is an epistolary. Epistolary was a popular way of writing a novel during the 18th century. It is written in the form of a letter or letters.
Jane began writing Lady Susan in 1793 or 1794, it was published in 1871 posthumously by her nephew J. E. Austen-Leigh.
Lady Susan is a wealthy widow in her late thirties. She has a daughter named Frederica that is approaching an age where she will be marriageable. Lady Susan is a gossip, flirtatious, calculating, devious, deceitful, a plotter, arro...more Lady Susan is an epistolary. Epistolary was a popular way of writing a novel during the 18th century. It is written in the form of a letter or letters.
Jane began writing Lady Susan in 1793 or 1794, it was published in 1871 posthumously by her nephew J. E. Austen-Leigh.
Lady Susan is a wealthy widow in her late thirties. She has a daughter named Frederica that is approaching an age where she will be marriageable. Lady Susan is a gossip, flirtatious, calculating, devious, deceitful, a plotter, arrogant, prideful, disdainful, spoiled, and selfish.
Lady Susan has a plan to marry her daughter to someone she does not love, or like. Lady Susan's family perceives she is plotting something and they are on high alert. The family dislikes Lady Susan, but becomes strongly attached to Frederica.
This epistolary story was okay. I was not swept up in the story, nor did I become attached to any of the characters.
Lady Susan is an interesting character. She is certainly strong-minded and willful, even if she is not a likable character.
If you have loved Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion, then I feel this would be a disappointment. If you are a beloved fan of Jane Austen and wish to taste all her written stories, then do read these short works.

Jane Austen began writing The Watsons in 1804, then it was abandoned. Jane's nephew Austen-Leigh published this unfinished work in 1871.
The Watsons is considered Jane Austen's only story that's main family or characters are of modest origin. Emma Watson had lived away from her family for fourteen years. She has recently come back to live with them. A few of the siblings are introduced. Emma is nineteen when she comes home. In the beginning of the story she becomes reacquainted with an older unmarried sister named Elizabeth. There is a ball and they attend. The reader is introduced to wealthy families, including the famous Osborne's. The angst of being able to marry well, but also for love, weighs heavy on Emma.
I liked this story the most. Just as I'd felt invested in the story it ended. I wanted to know what happened to Emma Watson, whom she married, or maybe not at all. Prospects for women during this time period left few options, marriage was the most common and safe choice.

Jane Austen began Sandition in January 1817, the last time she worked on the draft was March 18, 1817. Jane died the following July.
Sandition begins with a mature couple traveling in a carriage and over-turns on a road near their home. Mr. Heywood's ankle is sore. They live on the Essex coast of England in a new place called Sandition. The couple is Mr. and Mrs. Heywood. The Heywood's were considered "a respectable family." They have a twenty-two year old daughter named Charlotte who is a "sober-minded young lady, and well-read."
There is a gentleman who is interested in Charlotte, but he has been told he must marry for money.
I wonder what it will mean for this young couple that seem instantly smitten with each other? They enjoy talking about books, they quote lines from their favorite poem.
Once again just as I'd gotten accustomed and felt invested in this story it ended after chapter twelve. I wonder how it would have played-out. Would Charlotte and her new friend have married, or maybe his family would have prevented it?
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Jan 12, 2013 Salvatore rated it 3 of 5 stars

What a shame Austen didn't live to finish Sandition! The absurdity of it is so fantastic. The comedy is ubiquitous - more apparent as a satire. Potentially it could have been many things, including my favorite novel of hers. Ah the things we shall never know.

Lady Susan is particularly brutal, the character and the novella itself. I can see why Austen chose not to publish that. She's not a letter writer, and the epistolary novel has a pretty ridiculous conceit (see Richardson's Pamela). This wor...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Veerle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: re-read, i-own-it

Three different stories, all very amusing and well written. Lady Susan is an epistolary book, which reminded me a lot of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Lady Susan is a wicked and ruthless (a bit like the Marquise de Merteuil, but not that bad) widow, who uses her feminine charms whenever she has too. She intends to have her daughter Federica marries against her own inclination. Lady Susan's ruthlessness and way of acting reminded me of someone I used to know: setting people up against one another, so...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Laura Martinelli rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, library-reread, own

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...more

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May 07, 2009 R*beth*h Hart rated it 3 of 5 stars

Much of the writing is true to Jane Austen form but it shows she was still developing her skills. I found Lady Susan to be as vain as many women I have met in my day which made the story both tragic and amusing. The Watsons having already read Emma I found very amusing the complete change in her characters circumstances and very glad she made the changes. Sandition I read but was irritated by the very character of Mr. Parker and found the pages much harder to read than any of her stories.
I gre...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Serena rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sanditon, another unfinished novel and the last that she was working on before her death, by Jane Austen begins with the Parkers in search of a surgeon to bring back to the seaside town of Sanditon from Willingden to care for the sick tourists and travelers seeking the medicinal attributes of the small town. Unfortunately, the Parkers’ carriage runs into rough roads in a different Willingden without a physician and it overturns. Mr. Parker ends up with a sprained ankle and the adventure begins.

M...more

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Sep 14, 2011 Katherine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: regency-era-clean-romance-novels

Sandition left me going huh? It was a slow moving novel and because its not completed you can't even guess where the story will lead. Does anyone know a good author who completed the novel? I hear there are various ones that attempted it but are any good??
The Watsons and Lady Susan were both great novels! Lady Susan was written in an interesting style as everything we learned about the plot was from various letters... I loved the Watsons and wished Jane Austen completed it but at least we have a...more

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Apr 17, 2008 bookinglibrarian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh, if only Jane Austen had finished The Watsons and Sanditon...but it's worth reading these two fragments, and the completed Lady Susan for an Austen fix.

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Nov 20, 2007 Pikapaula rated it 5 of 5 stars

Makes me bitter and angry that JA didn't live to finish these and the other novels she had yet to set on paper.

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Mar 15, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had different reactions to these three novels (two unfinished). Sanditon seemed promising, with potential for many lively characters visiting a bathing resort and a built-in antagonist in Lady Denham. But there was so little information on the supposed hero Sidney Parker that it was hard to care too much about the romance that likely would have developed between him and Charlotte. I did, however find myself hoping that Clara would not be fooled by or submit to Sir Edward due to poverty.

The Wat...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Cinzia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ottocento

Ho comprato questo libro senza informarmi adeguatamente su cosa contenesse :> e ci sono rimasta male nello scoprire, leggendo, che le ultime due opere sono incompiute. Che amarezza, alla fine, quando mi son ritrovata a pensare "Ancora!! Ancora!!" :((((

Lady Susan
Romanzo epistolare carinissimo. In generale a me i romanzi epistolari piacciono molto, ma questo è così pungente, ironico, così poco politically correct che mi ha mandato in visibilio! :D E' 100% pettegolezzo, bellissimo.

I Watson - San...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sanditon, The Watsons & Lady Susan is a collection of Jane Austen's unfinished works.

Sanditon is the least complete of the three, and as such is rather difficult to form an opinion on. It is based around the seaside town of Sanditon and the locals' attempts to make it a popular attraction for those sickly folks seeking the healing remedies of the ocean.

The Watsons tells the story of widowed Mr Watson and his young daughters as they seek love and fortune. Mr Watson's youngest daughter, Emma,...more

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Apr 20, 2010 P. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While I've never read [and in fact avoid:] letter novels, I enjoyed reading this one. It conjured visions of Austen as a girl busily writing away, eager to bring her story and smiles to her family as they read her latest in the sitting room. I was surprised at the free flowing 'modernity' of the prose which I've never [to my recollection:] noticed in her senior writing. I thought the end a bit hurried as if Lady Susan had been 'wrapped' because another project needed attention. I don't know what...more

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Oct 18, 2008 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Only for the person who read everything else by Jane Austen and wants more!

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Nov 09, 2010 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: regency-era, england

Even though I prepared myself to find great pleasure in this last bit of Jane Austen EVER, I found I was shocked at the abrupt ending and disappointed. No more than one teaspoon of chocolate icecream could ever do more than tantalize, one small taste of Jane Austen can do nothing more than disappoint. Mind you, I wasn't disappointed in the work, I wanted it to go on forever. I cared about the characters and felt such a secret sort of pleasure to be reading something that might have stayed in pri...more

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About Jane Austen

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fr...more

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Quotes from Lady Susan, The Watson...

“Nobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength. Sea air was healing, softening, relaxing -- fortifying and bracing -- seemingly just as was wanted -- sometimes one, sometimes the other. If the sea breeze failed, the seabath was the certain corrective; and where bathing disagreed, the sea air alone was evidently designed by nature for the cure.” — 4 people liked it

“I can no longer refuse myself the pleasure of profiting by your kind invitation when we last parted of spending some weeks with you at Churchhill, and, therefore, if quite convenient to you and Mrs. Vernon to receive me at present, I shall hope within a few days to be introduced to a sister whom I have so long desired to be acquainted with. My kind friends here are most affectionately urgent with me to prolong my stay, but their hospitable and cheerful dispositions lead them too much into society for my present situation and state of mind; and I impatiently look forward to the hour when I shall be admitted into Your delightful retirement.” — 1 person liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208729.Lady_Susan_The_Watsons_Sanditon?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338816164l/208729.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208729.Lady_Susan_The_Watsons_Sanditon?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon by Jane Austen[/url]

Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon

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