Gathering together all the unpublished mature work of Jane Austen this volume comprises poems
a novella unfinished novels literary spoofs and a series of letters giving advice on how to
write fiction. Written between her childhood tales and published novels 'Lady Susan' is the
most complete portrait of clever charming malice Austen ever penned. With its special bleak
atmosphere 'The Watsons' is a powerful satire of claustrophobic middle-class life while
'Sanditon' the work she was writing when she died is an experimental novel exchanging
Austen's usual country-house setting for a speculative seaside resort. Along with the poems
(the last written just three days before her death) the letters and comic pieces the novel
fragments are beguiling on their own they also provide a fascinating companion to the
published novels. Prefaces and explanatory endnotes supplied by Janet Todd illuminate the
cultural historical and literary context bringing Jane Austen's world to life.
