Preparing For Sanditon

I'll be honest with you. I'm rather fond of a good period drama on TV, particularly of the Jane Austen variety. Over the years I have lapped up all the various episodes from Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice to George Knightley in Emma. So to discover that a version of Sanditon is about to be aired filled me with delight.

From The Daily Express

Sanditon is slightly lesser known novel owing to not being completed. In fact it was written  in 1817 shortly before Austen's untimely death that year, in Winchester. Unlike her other novels it was an unknown so I decided to put that right and read it before the drama airs on Sunday. Media hype is declaring that the TV version has taken a few liberties with the novel and there are a few racy scenes that Jane Austen might not approve of. Knowing this it was important to have her version in my head before I started watching. Don't worry I won't tut if its not accurate, but it is good to see how and where they deviate. The good news is that the TV version has been adapted by Andrew Davies, always a dab hand at period romps.

Sanditon made an intriguing read. Set just after the end of the French Wars, there is a feeling of enjoyment and the the need to take your leisure at the new up and coming seaside resorts. Sanditon is one such. This fictional town could have possibly been modelled on Worthing's early days where Austen was known to have visited. Mind you visiting a seaside town in those days was clearly for health reasons. A must was to hire a bathing hut so that you could discreetly take a dip in the sea.

Bathing Huts In Jersey

A large part of the eleven chapters featured ill health on the part of Mr Parker's brother and sisters. One can't help wondering whether Austen's own ill health at this time is filtering into her writing. Mind you three hour treatment with leaches doesn't sound like the way to cure anything, never mind the prescribed tonics and medicines that they took.

From Kindle

The book just gives you a taste of Sanditon and the characters, when it comes to an untimely ending. Rather like a device often employed by English tutors, where they read you a few chapters of a book and then ask you to devise an ending. I gather over the years, since it's first publication in 1925, quite a few authors have had a go with their own ideas. I have got until tomorrow to figure out my own ending before I get to see Davies' version.

Whatever, I will be sat glued, lapping up the costumes and mannerisms of Regency society. Enjoying every aspect of another wonderful Austen novel. I wonder if you will be glued too. Hopefully friends on the other side of the pond will get to see it soon.

Barbara xxx