Jane Austen's Charlotte: Her Fragment of a Last Novel [Audio Cassette]

The author of two sequels to Jane Austen novels (The Third Sister and Presumption), Barrett now sets out to complete Austen's last book. When she died in 1817, Austen left behind 11 chapters of a novel chronicling the growth and demise of Sanditon, a town on the southern coast of Sussex. Thomas Parker and his wife have partnered with Sanditon's grande dame, Lady Denham, in an effort to establish the town as a center of tourism competitive with Brighton. A guest of the Parkers, fresh, sharp and level-headed 22-year-old Charlotte Heywood, is the novel's heroine. Charlotte's impressions of the people who populate Sanditon--haughty Lady Denham; her supercilious nephew, Sir Edward; her kind-hearted companion, Clara Brereton; and Thomas Parker's dashing younger brother, Sidney--set the scene. In brilliant Austen style, the first chapters prepare the reader for Edward's unrequited love for Clara, the possibility of a match between Charlotte and Sidney and grand social commentary. But where Austen leaves off, Barrett picks up with circumlocutory language, unclear and contradictory character descriptions and a general heedlessness for plot, cramming the story with minor characters, coincidences, scenes of smuggling and gambling. Clara and Sir Edward indulge in a melodramatic affair, and Barrett's positive presentation of a new protagonist, poet and intellectual Emmeline Turner, is at odds with Austen's mocking attitude toward similar characters in other works. Barrett also risks much in coupling her own prose with Austen's. Still, determined Austen fans may find the novel an intriguing if less than satisfying footnote to the Austen canon. (Apr.) FYI: Barrett is a pseudonym of Julia Braun Kessler.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Austen left behind a fragment of a novel, which she entitled The Brothers but which was later known as Sanditon, after the story's setting. Under that title, it was completed by "Another Lady" (i.e., Anne Telscombe) and published by Houghton Mifflin (LJ 1/75). Now, the pseudonymous Barrett, the author of The Third Sister and Presumption (her sequels to Austen's Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, respectively), has based a new novel on Austen's fragment. Barrett knows the style and themes of her predecessor thoroughly, and it is difficult to know when Austen leaves off and Barrett begins. The plot concerns the involvement of numerous characters in the rise and fall of a seaside spa in Sussex. Charlotte temporarily leaves her family to stay with the Parkers at the resort. There she becomes embroiled in Mr. Parker's enthusiastic but ill-fated attempt to lure more people to take the waters at Sanditon. She falls in love with Parker's cynical brother Sidney, who becomes more human and caring under her benign influence. The situations are amusingly satirical, and the characters are diverse and entertaining, although the title character lacks the forcefulness and charm of Austen's best female characters. Although not a great novel, this pastiche is essential reading for Austen devotees. Recommended for larger public and college libraries.AMorris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brooklyn
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Toward the end of life, Austen began a novel that today is best known as Sanditon, for the seaside resort town it is set in. Here it is renamed Charlotte, after Austen's heroine. Although Austen only completed about 70 pages of this novel, it promised to be among her best, full of witty criticism and colorful characters. The premise is clear: a humorous attack on the latest fad of her day, the flocking of the sickly and the not-so-sickly to bathing towns for their health. Austen pokes fun at her characters, but never too roughly. Barrett's contribution (which begins in the middle of chapter 12) fleshes out many of the minor characters and continues in the vein of good-hearted satire. Although one must find some fault with the fact that the heroine and the hero, Charlotte Heywood and Sydney Parker, are not as well developed as they should be, and Barrett's attempt at Austenesque prose is somewhat stilted, still, the novel is an enjoyable read, and especially valuable for bringing Austen's fragment back into the public eye. Kristine Huntley --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The pseudonymous author of two Jane Austen sequels (The Third Sister, 1996, etc.) here takes up Austens unfinished manuscript satirizing land speculators and fashionable seaside towns, completing it with period style and dash, though plot developments are less satisfying Austen began The Brothers (better known as Sanditon, the name her survivors gave it) shortly before she died in 1817. The 12 chapters she wrote promise a spirited satire of the burgeoning popularity of seaside resorts, whose air and water were thought to have healing powers, and Barrett picks up where Austen left off. Several themes have contemporary resonance, particularly the characters preoccupation with alternative medicine and the desire of property developers Mr. Parker and Lady Debenham to profit from this fashion. These two, who have invested money in building houses to rent, hope that Sanditon will be the next Brighton. The folly of their enterprise is seen mostly through the eyes of Charlotte Heywood, a young woman staying with the Parkers in their new seaside villa, Trafalgar House. Charlotte is amused by romantic, verse-quoting Sir Edward, Lady Debenhams nephew and heir, but Edward himself is more taken with Clara, the Ladys penniless protge. As the season opens, a gratifying number of wealthy visitors arrive, as do Mr. Parkers hypochondriacal sisters and youngest brother, who soon find their health, happiness, and vocation in Sanditon. Also in attendance is Sidney, another Parker brother, who shares Charlottes sardonic understanding of others follies. Mutual attraction ensues as the plot labors to thicken. The resort still has too many vacant accommodations, so Sir Edward goes to London, hoping to make money by persuading a horse-racing and gambling establishment to move to Sanditon. It does, but the ensuing scandal soon empties the town. Only love triumphs. All those nice Regency details are here, but the people are sketchy creatures compelled to rush through a creaky plot. Even Austens wit seems less sparkling and more forced in so trite a setting.-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

CHARLOTTE...demonstrates Barrett's remarkable ability to extend a story... making Austen's work and hers feel as one. ... No easy accomplishment. -- Oxford Review, Online

"All but seamless ... CHARLOTTE with its wonderfully-realized heroine ... goes directly to the brain...where recognizable people dwell...like good brandy. -- Maine Courier-Gazette

"Barrett has tapped Austen's ironic tone and subtle wit to bring this successful collaboration to readers of the 21st century." -- THE BLOOMSBURY REVIEW July-August 2001

"In this latest effort, as in her earlier work, Barrett displays a knack for capturing Austen's characterization and cadence." -- Book Page

"Thanks to...Julia Barrett, SANDITON has been resurrected and completed in true Austen-esque spirit...[and with] the same sly pen." -- The Times Argus, January 26, 2001. Barre, Montpelier, Vermont

"Those (like me) in search of sneers must go elsewhere." -- James R. Kincaid, The New York Times Book Review

Barrett develops these characters with the same sharp eye, sympathy and wit that Austen brought to their creation. -- July 14, 2000, International Herald Tribune

Barrett's vision is sound... [with] proper Austen-like conclusion, [where] foolishness is chastened, strength of character rewarded and society hums [again]." -- Washington Post

Julia Barrett's is "a style that is an admirable counterfeit, using material plausible enough...to make the transition unnoticeable." -- The Magazine for the Reading Life --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Julia Barrett --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Let's be clear here. This is not Jane Austen's CHARLOTTE, although the attribution is entirely understandable. If you had written it, you too would want to pretend that somebody else had. Here is a hash of themes and situations from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, EMMA, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, NORTHANGER ABBEY, JANE EYRE, and the novels of E. F. Benson, pretending to the bite and sparkle of a lemon mousse, but proving instead to be purest suet pudding. Why anyone would read this mess when the true Miss Austen is available I can't imagine, unless for the flawless performance of Johanna Wood, who deserves a medal. B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine