Home » Book Reviews » Jane Austen » Sanditon by Jane Austen
Possible spoilers ahead
It feels delightful to have a Jane Austen novel that I have yet to discover, as I know her main full-length novels inside-out as I have read them so many times (and I’m sure will continue to read them many more times). However, I haven’t read Sanditon before because I’ve always been a bit undecided about reading a novel that I know doesn’t have a resolution because it is unfinished, and I am apprehensive about being wildly frustrated at the end and left with unanswered questions (though I am taking comfort from the fact that it surely won’t be as frustrating as Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (which I have reviewed on this site) as I’m presuming there is no murder in Sanditon!). Grab your copy and let’s read it together!
Mr and Mrs Parker are travelling to their home in Sanditon after a stay in London. They have taken a diversion to the town of Willingden in the hope of convincing a doctor there to move to Sanditon to be that town’s resident doctor as Parker thinks that having a resident doctor would draw more people to Sanditon, which he is very keen to achieve as he has invested money improving and enlarging the town and hopes it will become a more popular holiday destination. However, they are surprised to see just a small group of houses with no obvious doctor’s residence, and when they continue travelling up the steep hill hoping to discover more their carriage is overturned and Parker sprains his ankle in the fall. Mr Heywood, the owner of the largest house in Willingden comes to their rescue and explains that they have made a mistake as it is the town of Great Willingden that they want, rather than the village of Willingden where he lives. He invites them to stay with him and his wife and 14 children until Parker’s ankle heals. During their stay there, Parker proudly tells Heywood and his wife and children all about Sanditon, urging them to visit there. Hmmm, the book feels a little strange so far as it’s nearly the end of chapter two and yet there have been only men featured (Parker and Heywood), rather than Austen’s usual main character of a young woman. And we don’t have any first names for these men either so I’m feeling a little distant from them too. Hopefully the book will revert to the author’s usual style soon with the lead character of a young woman (and with a first name, as I don’t think I’m being too demanding expecting a first name, tee hee!). And I guess this was perhaps the point in history when many of today’s English coastal towns were first being developed, and it’s strange for me to consider what these places were like before development and also makes me sad to consider how many of them are looking tired and faded now with people mostly holidaying abroad instead of in these coastal towns, compared to how new and vibrant they must have once been. I wonder if Sanditon is based on somewhere real (I am guessing it’s not actually a real place), and I noted that Parker said it was a mile from Eastbourne so that may give me an indication if I was to google a bit (oh, it was apparently based on Worthing, and Austen stayed here when it was being developed). And equally I wonder if the town of Brinshore (which Parker mentions dismissively as a rival holiday destination to Sanditon) is also based on a real place as it isn’t sounding like a nice place from Parker’s description of it being close to ‘a stagnant marsh, a bleak moor…and putrefying seaweed…insalubrious air’ (oh, I see Brinshore is commonly assumed to have been based on Bognor Regis!). I also chuckled at Parker’s driver having a ‘portentous countenance’ when his advice that the steep road wasn’t suitable for carriages was ignored by the Parkers and he was proved right with the accident, I feel sure the words ‘I told you so’ were being mouthed silently by him but he could obviously only hint at his feelings by using a facial expression! I was also amused by Heywood and Parker’s extremely polite gentlemanly disagreement about if this was the right Willingden or not, as both of them were certain that they were right and they were both being firm in their speech and yet not forceful at all, just very gentlemanly and polite! And I was also amused at Heywood’s enormous patience explaining time and again to Parker that as he lived there he clearly knew the facts of the matter, and then later displaying enormous patience again when trying to make another point while Parker was obliviously and relentlessly continuing to speak about Sanditon and the benefits of the sea air, tee hee! I do love Parker’s enthusiasm for Sanditon though, and especially his belief in the value of the sea air to cure almost any illness. He seems a very positive person too, even trying to find the positives in their carriage accident and his injured ankle, maintaining that there is always ‘good out of evil’, though I wonder if some of his positivity comes from trying to prevent his wife’s anxiety escalating so he jumps in with positives in order to reassure her, as she was described during the carriage accident as being ‘terrified and anxious, neither able to do or suggest anything’ so not sounding like a very calm or decisive woman. But he also seems like a man who can easily become obsessed with something and then fail to notice anything else going on around him, so I wonder how his wife Mary copes with that and if he is perhaps difficult to live with at times, or perhaps she just tunes out to him after a while! I like Heywood too, he seems to be a nice man and a family man too (but wow, 14 children!). This first couple of chapters are wonderfully written and give a very effective and amusing display of the men’s different characters, I feel.
During the Parkers’ stay with the Heywoods, they invite Charlotte, the eldest of the 14 Heywood children and aged 22, to accompany them back to Sanditon and stay with them there for a while. Later when they journey to Sanditon, Parker tells Charlotte all about one of the foremost residents of Sanditon, widowed 70 year old Lady Denham of historic Sanditon House, who is his business partner in the investment of Sanditon, and Lady Denham’s young companion Clara Brereton, who Charlotte very much likes the sound of. Yay, a young woman with a first name, Charlotte, has finally been introduced! Well, two in quick succession in fact as we now have both Charlotte and Clara. I chuckled at Parker’s talk on the journey home which he doubtless felt served to ‘lighten the tediousness of a long hill’, as I imagine Charlotte had to show patience with this long speech just like her father had previously displayed many times! But again, Parker clearly has good qualities, being described by the author as ‘open-hearted…kind-hearted’, though I chuckled at the phrase ‘more imagination than judgement’ which I feel accurately describes his conversation and also his perseverance with that conversation, tee hee! And the author describes Mrs Mary Parker as ‘entirely waiting to be guided on every occasion’, so I was clearly right in my guess that she’s not a decisive woman. I also chuckled at the line that Lady Denham’s first husband’s relatives ‘hope to be more indebted to her sense of justice than he had allowed them to be to his’, what a wonderfully ironic way of demonstrating that they had been disappointed in their expectation of being left money in his will, tee hee! I wonder if Clara and Charlotte will be firm friends or rivals, though Clara certainly sounds very nice, being described by the author as having ‘steady conduct and mild gentle temper…worthy of trust…as thoroughly amiable as she was lovely’, that’s quite the glowing reference, although was there a hint that the Brerertons (Clara’s family) were being self-serving by inviting Lady Denham to stay with them, intending that their generosity could later benefit them financially with them then being in her good books, and if so then is Clara part of this plan and is she really as guileless and innocent as she seems?! But I like Lady Denham for her selection of Clara as a companion, choosing her because she was poor and dependent and overlooked so wanted to help her. And I like that we are getting a commentary on the characters from Austen (and how amusing this is with her dry humour!), although I wonder if this will alter with the introduction of possible female leads (Charlotte and Clara) and if we will then view the other characters and situations from one of their perspectives.
On the approach to Sanditon and the Parkers’ home, the carriage passes the village of Old Sanditon in the valley where the Parkers used to live and Parker points out its faults, though Mrs Mary Parker fondly remembers some aspects of that family home where their children were born. Their newly built home in the newly created town of Sanditon is called Trafalgar House, and has a seaview and the best shops nearby but also several buildings still under construction. Parker tells Charlotte about his two ill sisters Susan and Diana and his young fragile brother Arthur, and his other brother Sidney who Parker describes as clever and fashionable, and Parker is looking forward to responses from them after his letters detailing their recent accident and his injury. Diana has written sympathising with his accident and offering suggestions of suitable treatments, but adding that it is an impossibility for them to get to Sanditon themselves with their ‘wretched constitutions’, though adds that she has been busy recommending Sanditon to people and thinks she has encouraged two large groups to visit there. Hmmm, I wonder if one of the themes of this book will be the theme of change and whether it is for the better or not, or perhaps a mix of both better and not, with the Parkers leaving their home in the valley of Old Sanditon which had been in the family for generations and where their children were born (and which is obviously full of memories and which Mrs Mary Parker still seems to think of fondly with its comfortableness and established garden and orchards and meadows and the trees providing shade for the children to play in and its location protecting them from the stormy winds), for their newly built Trafalgar House on the hill in the New Sanditon with a seaview and being close to the water for bathing (with Parker extolling the advantage of their new kitchen garden, and suggesting other ways in which this house is better than their previous one which he says was in the ‘gutter’ of the valley). Though I can’t help feeling myself that the old cottages and the cluster of fishermen’s houses in Old Sanditon sounds charming and idyllic, but perhaps this is me wistfully imagining a time long gone and actually the cottages and houses were cramped and damp and not the romantic idylls I imagine! And again, whilst I noted the easily influenced nature of Mrs Mary Parker allowing her to be talked into praising the new house and agreeing with her husband’s criticism of the old house, I do love again Parker’s enthusiasm and positivity and feel there are lessons to be learnt from his attitude to life, ‘his spirits rose with the very sight of the sea and he could almost feel his ankle getting stronger already’. And his siblings sound an interesting contrast to each other, the two sisters and Arthur seeming weak and feeble, while he (Parker) and Sidney seem more decisive and full of action, and I wonder if we will see more of these siblings. And I do love letters in a novel, and Diana’s letter was wonderfully chatty and amusing!
Parker and Charlotte head out into the town, first visiting the library and then meeting Lady Denham and Clara who are also out walking and who return with them to Trafalgar House for tea. Charlotte is interested to meet both and to judge their characters for herself, and she is greatly impressed by Clara, seeing in her ‘the most perfect representation of whatever heroine might be most beautiful and bewitching in all the numerous volumes’. Lady Denham shows mixed enthusiasm for Parker’s news about the two large families due to stay at Sanditon, as she is pleased they will bring money to the town but is also anxious that their demands for goods will increase the prices for locals. She is also scornful of Parker’s view that it would be beneficial to have a surgeon in the town, as she doesn’t rate doctors herself and tries to avoid using them. Sir Edward Denham and his sister, Esther (nephew and niece of Lady Denham) also visit the Parkers, and Charlotte admires Sir Edward, thinking him handsome and interesting to talk to and sensing that he admires her, but she doesn’t like Esther who seems cold and proud. The Parkers and Charlotte meet Sir Edward and Esther again later that day when they are sitting with Lady Denham and Clara, and Charlotte notices that Esther now seems interested and attentive towards Lady Denham which is a stark contrast to her manner when at the Parkers’ house, and she also notes that Sir Edward is acting like a lover towards Clara though Charlotte feels that Clara doesn’t seem very receptive towards this. Sir Edward then bestows his attention on Charlotte and rather bewilders her with his eagerness to display his love for poetry and novels and knowledge of these, and she begins to view him as silly and suspects that his attention to her is an attempt by him to make Clara jealous. Lady Denham later walks with Charlotte and shares confidences with her about Sir Edward and Esther’s reliance on her generosity and how both need to marry people of fortune. Charlotte concludes however that Lady Denham is probably quite frugal rather than generous with her money and suspects that this has probably then made Sir Edward and Esther overly eager in their servility towards her in order to try and influence her generosity. Hmmm, I wondered if there was going to be a romance between Charlotte and Sir Edward, but he then seemed to be coming across as slightly foolish with his attempt to make Clara jealous by giving his attention to Charlotte and also his attempt to appear knowledgeable about poetry and novels (and this reminds me a little of John Thorpe in Northanger Abbey), and I do chuckle at Austen’s subtle way of mocking these type of characters and also using the types of books that she doesn’t rate in order to display their foolishness by them liking these books! I chuckled at Sir Edward’s flowery and quite overwhelming language about the novels he enjoys (and what on earth does ‘eleemosynary’ mean, which is a word he used? I’ve just googled and apparently it means to be charitable! Perhaps I should try and bring that word into my daily conversation, tee hee!), and I chuckled at Charlotte dryly saying, after Sir Edward’s long speech about novels, that ‘our taste in novels is not at all the same’, tee hee, a perfect and yet tactful put-down! I was then interested in the potential relationship between Sir Edward and Clara, as I was wondering if he thinks that Clara will be left money in Lady Denham’s will so is keen to marry her to secure this money to himself as her husband, but then it seems his actual intention is to bring about Clara’s ruin by seducing her and therefore cause Lady Denham to give her up, as he sees her as a rival to Lady Denham’s attention and patronage, and it’s only the thought of the expense which is dissuading him from carrying Clara off immediately to a solitary house to conduct his crime! That’s terrible, omg, it makes me think of him as a horrible man, but then I wondered if it was actually all just more foolish/boastful thinking on his behalf, seeing himself as emulating the hero of a novel, as it seems like this is the theme of Samuel Richardson’s novel Clarissa which is a book that has been mentioned a few times now, and that Sir Edward is modelling himself on Robert Lovelace from that novel, so perhaps he wouldn’t actually follow this course of action? It will be interesting to see! And as well as this being the theme of Clarissa, it also reminds me of Ann Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest which also deals with this theme and Radcliffe is also an author that Austen mocked in Northanger Abbey! Esther seems an interesting character too as she has two sides to her and displays the particular side she thinks will best benefit her, just as her brother does, so I’d like to learn more about her too. And back with themes of other books, I thought that Charlotte feeling that Clara was like a heroine in a novel reminded me of Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey who also entertained herself by making up stories about people and viewing their situation through the plot of a book. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get details of the conversation between Charlotte and Clara though, particularly as they had tea together, as it would have been interesting to try and judge how their friendship might progress and if Clara liked Charlotte too. And I was intrigued by the local library, where Parker takes Charlotte to look at his ‘library subscription book’, and Charlotte also becoming a subscriber! So does this subscription just mean you can take out books from the library, or is it similar to a modern-day bookclub and the subscribers receive a book to read? If the latter (and I like this idea the best!), then I’d love to know what book they are reading! And it sounds like the library also sells books and other items too, almost like a general store. And as an aside, I did smile at Lady Denham remarking that ‘heiresses are monstrous scarce’, and her hoping that some of the visitors to Sanditon would be consumptive as this would mean more sale of milk as she owns animals to provide this milk, tee hee!
Parker’s siblings, Diana and Susan and Arthur, make a surprise visit to Sanditon, but decline Parker’s insistence that they stay at Trafalgar House as Diana states that they wish to stay at lodgings in the town in order to do some research because one of the large groups that Diana had recommended Sanditon to were concerned about finding a house large enough for them there so Diana had immediately decided that they would stay there themselves in order to check out the available accommodation and report back to them. Charlotte later meets the siblings, finding Susan very similar to Diana in seeming to enjoy imagining and exaggerating their ailments, but she is surprised that Arthur looks tall and healthy though he complains of rheumatism and nerves. Mrs Griffiths and three other ladies arrive at Sanditon and it becomes apparent that this is the large group with concerns about the accommodation and in fact are the only group coming to Sanditon as Diana had unwittingly written to the same people twice, rather than two different groups of people as she had thought, having confused herself due to the large amount of correspondence she had sent out in her eagerness to recommend Sanditon. However, Diana is not downhearted about her mistake or the fact she and Susan and Arthur have travelled needlessly to Sanditon to search for accommodation, and she sets about getting to know them. Mrs Griffiths is a schoolmistress and the three ladies are her students, the extremely wealthy heiress Miss Lambe, and two sisters (the Beauforts) who are fashionable and keen for admiration. Tee hee, I am liking Charlotte with her inward judgements on people (including her view that Diana displays ‘unaccountable officiousness’ and Arthur is of ‘indolent temper’, and the supposed illnesses of them all are rather ‘the amusement of eager minds in want of employment’), and her comments often make me chuckle, and I imagine Charlotte to be like Austen when she inwardly judged her neighbours and saved up their ridiculousness for her books! Charlotte does also seem to be more the commentator now rather than Austen, as I wondered might happen and I guess this is an indication that she will be the main female lead character. I am looking forward to getting to know Charlotte better (although the end of the book is fast approaching!) and I wonder what Austen’s plans were for her as I can’t see her ending up with someone silly and ridiculous as her husband, in fact Charlotte reminds me a bit of Lizzy Bennett in Pride and Prejudice with her quick slightly scathing (and amusing!) views on people. Diana seems to be coming across as one of Austen’s wonderful silly ridiculous characters with her constantly complaining about her health and sufferings and yet able to exert herself to travel quite a distance in order to interfere in other people’s business without their knowledge or request, and her aim to (as Charlotte puts it in her mind) attain ‘the glory of doing more than anybody else’, and this resulting in confusion and mistakes! I imagine it would be amusing following this character and seeing the other ridiculous things she does. And I wonder if we will meet the other sibling too, Sidney, as he sounds less ridiculous than Diana and Susan and Arthur and more like Parker himself, but then Parker has aspects of ridiculousness too (though he is well-meaning, and I like him) with his obsession about Sanditon and his constant chatter, so I wonder if Sidney will also have aspects of ridiculousness. I think the Parker family could be quite fascinating!
Charlotte and Mrs Mary Parker go to visit Lady Denham at Sanditon House, and on the way see a carriage containing Sidney (Parker’s other sibling), who says he is visiting for a few days and will stay in a local hotel with a few friends who will shortly join him. On arrival at Sanditon House, Charlotte spots Clara sitting outside on a bench with Sir Edward, deep in conversation, though Lady Denham has said to Charlotte that she hopes Sir Edward will end up with the heiress Miss Lambe. Charlotte is impressed with Lady Denham’s large and well-furnished house and interested in the large portrait of Sir Harry Denham (Lady Denham’s second husband) and the small portrait of Mr Hollis (Lady Denham’s first husband). And that’s it, the end of the book, arrrgh!!
Omg, it’s so frustrating not knowing what Austen intended for all these wonderful characters, and especially tantalising to have four new people introduced with barely any information yet given about them (Sidney and Miss Lambe and the Beaufort sisters). And of course I have soooo many other questions, particularly who ended up with who as Austen does tend to pair people off in her novels (as indeed was the aim of most ladies at that time), such as did Sir Edward end up with the heiress Miss Lambe or Clara or nobody (as I feel he probably deserved to end up with nobody!)?, was one of the Beaufort sisters perhaps intended for Sidney?, who was intended for Esther or did she end up with Sidney?, did Charlotte end up with anyone (although I think we haven’t yet met anyone I liked for her, as I am kind of guessing that Sidney will have a degree of ridiculousness about him, like Parker, which wouldn’t appeal to Charlotte, though I am bearing in mind that Sidney mentioned that some friends were joining him so is one of these the man that Charlotte ends up with?)?, did Clara end up with anyone or was she destined to stay as Lady Denham’s trusted companion (and frustrate Sir Edward and Esther by being left all her money?)?, and is Arthur to end up with anyone (perhaps someone who encourages him to alter his ‘indolent temper’!)? And I have so many other questions too, such as did Charlotte and Clara become good friends and perhaps Charlotte counsel Clara against trusting Sir Edward (particularly as it seemed like Clara might be falling for Sir Edward’s charms in that last section)?, is Charlotte right in thinking that Clara seems like the heroine of a novel and did Clara therefore become more of a main character of this novel along with Charlotte (and how are the two ladies different from each other in their views or similar to each other?)?, how many more mistakes did Diana make in her ‘unaccountable officiousness’?, did any of Charlotte’s other siblings come to Sanditon to then introduce more match-making opportunities?, did Sanditon continue to grow and thrive or did it end up failing?, and did the Parkers continue to love Sanditon or end up yearning for their original home in the valley in Old Sanditon? And I think the most interesting characters I’d have liked to follow are Charlotte (as she seems very different to the others with her sharpness and her observations about people), and Lady Denham (who seems also to be able to observe people and define their motives and characteristics, with her choosing Clara as her ward and her being aware of Sir Edward and Esther’s flattery and hopes for her money). But sigh, all my questions and surmises are unanswered, though I have heartily enjoyed myself thinking of them all!
However, obviously I’ve tried to find out more about what might have been Austen’s plans for the characters! Wikipedia is usually my first choice for information and I was fascinated to learn that Austen had originally entitled this book The Brothers, so is this all three of the Parker brothers or just two of them, I wonder, and it’s interesting too given the different feel to the start of the book with it being more male-orientated (though this was Parker and Heywood) and it being only later that female characters were featured, which feels a bit of an interesting departure from her usual books too. And Wikipedia says that the common assumption is that Charlotte and Sidney ended up together, which surprised me as I hadn’t really thought that myself, though we have seen so little of Sidney at this point so it is hard to make a complete judgement about what type of a person he is.
And am I tempted to read any continuations of this book by other authors? Would I agree with their views, or not? Hmmm, it’s hard to know, I will have to give that some thought. But I was surprised to see that Reginald Hill wrote a Dalziel and Pascoe novel called A Cure For All Diseases and which the author said was a completion of Sanditon, as his background of work wouldn’t seem to indicate that he was an Austen fan but I’m impressed that he is! And of course Austen’s niece (Anna Austen Lefroy) wrote a continuation herself and it’s tempting to wonder if she had an indication from Austen of her intention with the characters, called Jane Austen’s Sanditon: A Continuation. I am also undecided whether to read Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa as Austen seemed to mock it, but then she also seemed to mock Ann Radcliffe’s work and I have loved reading those (and I have reviewed The Romance of the Forest on this site), so perhaps I would enjoy Clarissa too. And reading Sanditon obviously put me in mind of other Austen novels (and also with perhaps a hope that some similarities in the characters of her other novels might indicate that the Sanditon characters might follow a similar path!) and I rarely need an excuse to re-read any of her wonderful books so as I saw links with Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice then I may well pick up these to re-read (and to revel in the joy that they are finished novels and everything is all tied up and explained!), and I have also reviewed her epistolary novel Lady Susan on this site too.
Sanditon by Jane Austen available on Amazon
