[fantasyfan]

I don't know if this is what you precisely had in mind, but there are continuations of Sanditon {Jane Austen's final, but incomplete novel} and The Watsons, an earlier work which seems promising but in which she apparently lost interest.

Sanditon cuts off mid-chapter. Enough is there to show that another masterpiece was in the making. I have the continuations of both--they are available in paperback.I have just finished reading the 1977 completion of The Watsons—an early fragment of a novel by Jane Austen. This work was begun around 1805 and Jane Austen wrote the first five chapters {as they are reproduced in the 1977 completion} in a burst of creativity. She then abandoned the work and never resumed it.

As to The Watsons It is early Austen. She had already written Elinor and Marianne {now lost} which was the first version of Sense and Sensibility. Between 1796-97 First Impressions, {also lost} a novel in letter format, was complete and read to the family. It was later developed into Pride and Prejudice. Northanger Abbey was composed in 1797-98. The Watsons, then is part of this early context of composition. Why she abandoned the promising narrative is unknown, but Cassandra, her beloved sister, said that the next major event in the book was to be the death of the heroine’s Father. Then Jane’s father actually did die. In additon. a close friend tragically died in an accident. Perhaps these events simply made it emotionally impossible for her to continue the book. Then, as time passed, her style became more sophisticated,, her characters became more complex and her treatment of subject matter and theme deepened and became ever more assured. In the event, she simply outgrew the story of The Watsons.

Still, the story has held a fascination. After Jane’s death her brother married one of her closest friends and Cassandra spent long visits with them. Austen’s works, including The Watsons were read aloud and discussed and Cassandra elaborated the further developments which were to occur in the unfinished novel. One of the nieces, Catherine Anne Austen Hubback actually wrote a novel in 1850 called The Younger Sister which seems to be an extension of The Watsons and is possibly based on the knowledge Cassandra had of it. Catherine’s grand-daughter, Edith Hubback Brown, then took this novel and used it as the basis of a completion of the book under its original title. But this version simply didn’t satisfy the writer of the 1977 attempt because he stated that it “so greatly compressed the plot’s development that it did less than justice to Jane’s own work.” The author of the completion, {David Hopkinson} is married to a descendent of Catherine Hubback and acknowledges her help as well as that of another great great great niece of Jane Austen.

So, if you decide to try this literary curiosity, the first five chapters are all by Jane Austen herself. Then Hopkinson takes over and spins an entertaining tale written in an 18th century style. He doesn’t succeed completely. There are stylistic anachronisms and he simply cannot match Austen’s brilliant narrative technique. Further, there are certain plot pointers in the fragment which he fails to develop properly. All that said, it is still an enjoyable read and it’s nice to have the story completed more or less as Austen had in mind.