(Lady Susan / The Watsons / Sanditon)

A Penguin Classics edition of three lesser-known Austen works, including Lady Susan, the basis for Whit Stillman’s feature film Love and Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny

These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, The Watsons is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine -­ Emma -­ finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Meanwhile Sanditon, set in a seaside resort, offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and spectators, treated by Austen with both amusement and scepticism.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.