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 with the affections of
several men. In contrast The Watsons is a delightful fragment whose spirited heroine - Emma -
finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Meanwhile Sanditon set in a
seaside resort offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and spectators treated by Austen with
both amusement and scepticism.
