THE WATSONS AND SANDITON

Even Austen’s unfinished novels will excite her fans. In THE WATSONS, abandoned after five chapters, Emma Watson returns to her widowed father and crude siblings after being raised in refinement by a wealthy aunt. Austen died after completing 11 chapters of SANDITON, about an attempt to build a state-of-the-art resort by the sea. Anna Bentinck narrates THE WATSONS in a languid, humorless, patrician style, sometimes pausing between every phrase. Her more robust treatment of SANDITON delivers plenty of satirical humor and vivid characterizations. Indeed, her impersonations are the best part of both books. Her beautiful mezzo voice causes no damage either. But why the Watson family gets a less-than-successful treatment while Sanditon town speaks so charmingly of the author’s lively intelligence mystifies. Y.R. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2011]