This edition of Sanditon was finished by “another lady.” The first approximately 25% of Sanditon was written by Jane Austen and the remainder written by Marie Dobbs, an Australian journalist and novelist born in 1924. Reportedly, Jane was not able to complete her usual process of revising and rewriting the work. 

About halfway through the book, I started feeling like I was reading a regency romance written with “old expressions” and many semicolons and dashes. As ironic as it sounds, events moved too quickly, and it didn’t feel like a Jane Austen novel. Instead of learning about different characters through the heroine’s thoughts and conversations, which Jane Austen does beautifully, it became the heroine’s thoughts about the events and wanting to have time to reflect and then instantly deciding to just go with her emotions. 

If this did not have Jane Austen’s name on it, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more. I’m glad I read it and there are several continuations of Sanditon out there. The only one I’m a bit curious about was continued (but not completed) by her niece, who said she and her aunt talked extensively about the book before Jane’s early death. But that version is out of print and apparently very difficult to find. The other continuations don’t seem that appealing.