Title: Sandition
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Classics
Pages: 320
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Jane Austen; 52 Books -- W52
How I Got It: iBooks free download
Sanditon might have been Austen’s greatest novel had she lived to finish it. Its subject matter astonishes: here is Austen observing the birth pangs of the culture of commerce, as her country-bred heroine, a foolish baronet, a family of hypochondriacs, and a mysterious West Indian heiress collide against the background hum of real-estate development at a seaside resort.
Instead of reading one of the continuations or completions of the novel by another author, I stuck to Austen's fragment. I was really getting into the story of the little seaside town of Sanditon and its quirky residents. I wish that Austen would have continued, the novel holds such promise. We have a mysterious character, a few potential romances, a grand scheme, and all the usual meddling neighbors. Really a fun little read...