Depending on where you live and what you have access to, you may be close to or actually finished the second season of Sanditon. I really enjoyed the first season/series of Sanditon, but I think the second (and upcoming third) are even more impressive given that the original UK producer had cancelled it before it ever had a chance to air in North America and was given a second chance due to a massive online campaign. (Shout out to the #SanditonSisterhood!) While we’ve got a year to wait for the third season, I’ve gathered the best books to read if you love Sanditon! (And no spoilers for the show, other than things that were announced in press releases before the season aired.)
Sanditon and The Watsons: Jane Austen’s Unfinished Novels, Jane Austen
Praised by critics and studied by scholars, Jane Austen’s novels endure because of their popularity with readers. The author’s witty and astute observations elevate her tales of parties, gossip, and romance into matters of captivating drama, offering an evocative portrait of everyday life in the towns and countryside of Regency England. Austen’s premature death at the age of forty-two curtailed her legacy, and her devotees have eagerly read and re-read her handful of books. This collection features two of her unfinished novels, an often overlooked pair of gems that enrich our appreciation of Austen’s storytelling gifts.
These writings first appeared posthumously, when Austen’s nephew included the texts in an 1871 memoir of his celebrated relative. The Watsons unfolds in a familiar domestic milieu, in which a spirited heroine finds her marriage opportunities narrowed by poverty and pride. In contrast, Sanditon ventures into markedly different territory. Set at a seaside resort, among a cast of hypochondriacs and speculators, it suggests that Austen’s work might have taken some unexpected new directions. Even if these incomplete stories had been of little intrinsic value, they would have been of interest as literary records and curiosities. As it happens, they are of high quality and worthy of reading for their own sake, for pleasure as well as study.
Why You Should Read This…
I would like to think that reading the original Sanditon is a given on a list of the best books if you love Sanditon but I had to include it! She had started working on Sanditon shortly before her death, and only completed 11 chapters. (The material she wrote takes you almost to the end of the first episode.) It is quite fascinating to read an unfinished Austen novel in the first place. However, it is even more fascinating when you read it with the show in mind and see what was pulled forward for television. Also, most editions will also feature her other unfinished novel, The Watson, which is also quite fun to read! (I would not be shocked to see it given the same treatment as Sanditon at some point.)
Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
A wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austen’s “Gothic parody.” Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.
The story’s unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry’s mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.
Why You Should Read This…
I am slightly biassed in recommending Northanger Abbey because it is my favourite book, but I think it perfectly captures the spirit of Sanditon. The protagonist, Catherine Morland, goes to Bath with her family friends and finds adventure and love. While Bath is obviously an established city and not a developing seaside town, it played a similar role where people went to improve their health. (And to be seen…) Although many people write this novel off, it is intelligent and witty and funny, and shows a lot of her writing talent at an early age. And if you are looking for something to watch after Sanditon, I would recommend the 2007 adaptation of Northanger Abbey– Andrew Davies, the man behind the first season of Sanditon, was also behind NA!
A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove 1), Tessa Dare
Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men; it is a haven for those who live there.
Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn’t belong here. So far as he can tell, there’s nothing in this place but spinsters… and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It’s a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram’s makeshift army.
Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle… but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?
Why You Should Read This…
Tessa Dare has very quickly become one of my favourite authors, mainly because her books are pure fun and usually make me laugh. There are four books in the Spindle Cove series, but the first is my favourite and lines up well with the new season of Sanditon. The town is known for being a haven for unmarried and disenchanted women to find peace and excitement in their lives (really whatever they need). Or it is until the new earl shows up and forms a militia. Susanna is an independent woman who needs to have a purpose outside of romance, like many of the women on Sanditon!
Arabella, Georgette Heyer
To Arabella Tallant, the eldest daughter of a penniless country clergyman, the invitation to stay with her London godmother was like the key to heaven, for in addition to living in the glamorous city, Arabella might even find a suitable husband there. Armed with beauty, virtue and a benevolent godmother, the impetuous but impoverished Arabella embarked on her first London season with her mother’s wish in mind: snare a rich husband.
On her way to London Arabella’s carriage breaks down outside the hunting lodge of the wealthy and socially prominent Robert Beaumaris, fate cast her in his path. Arabella’s only fault is impetuosity, and her pride stung when she overhears a remark of her path of arrogant host, who accused her of being another petty female after his wealth, the proud, headstrong ingenue made a most startling claim — she was an heiress! A pretense that deeply amuses the jaded Beau. To counter her white lie, Beaumaris launches her into high society and thereby subjects her to all kinds of amorous fortune hunters in London and other embarrassments.
Suddenly Arabella found herself the talk of the ton and pursued by some of the most eligible young men of the day. But only one caught Arabella’s fancy: Beaumaris, the handsome and dedicated bachelor. She should know better than to allow herself to be provoked by nonpareil Beau. But would her deceitful charade destroy her one chance for true love…?
Beaumaris, however, although a most artful matrimonial dodger, badly underestimated his seemingly naive adversary… When compassionate Arabella rescues such unfortunate creatures as a mistreated chimney sweep and a mixed-breed mongrel, she foists them upon Beaumaris, who finds he rather enjoys the role of rescuer and is soon given the opportunity to prove his worth in the person of Bertram Tallant, the also impetuous young brother of Arabella….
Why You Should Read This…
I have to recognise that while Heyer’s work is massive in historical romance and historical fiction, she was anti-semetic, racist, and homophobic, amongst other problematic traits. I went back and forth on recommending this book, and had it been a living author, I probably wouldn’t have included it on the list. This might be a better library choice instead of purchasing.
I haven’t read a ton of Heyer, but this one absolutely reminds me of Sanditon. It doesn’t line up perfectly with the show, but Arabella gives me Charlotte Heywood vibes in several ways. She comes from a poorer family in the country and is brought to London by her godmother, and has more spirit and will than a lot of other protagonists.
Agnes Grey, Anne Brontё
When her family becomes impoverished after a disastrous financial speculation, Agnes Grey determines to find work as a governess in order to contribute to their meagre income and assert her independence. But Agnes’s enthusiasm is swiftly extinguished as she struggles first with the unmanageable Bloomfield children and then with the painful disdain of the haughty Murray family; the only kindness she receives comes from Mr Weston, the sober young curate. Drawing on her own experience, Anne Brontë’s first novel offers a compelling personal perspective on the desperate position of unmarried, educated women for whom becoming a governess was the only respectable career open in Victorian society.
Why You Should Read This…
In the second season of Sanditon, Charlotte gets a job as a governess, and I immediately thought of Agnes Grey. And without spoiling anything, there are some serious Brontё vibes this season. Agnes Grey does have a darker feeling than Sanditon but I think shares a lot of the same themes, especially in the second season. (And I think drawing on other nineteenth century writers makes sense for the show.) Yes, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre steal the majority of Brontё attention, but this is a must-read for any Sanditon fans!
A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet #2), Julia Quinn
Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is…
But she’s managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge—in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he’s the first man who has truly tempted her, and it’s getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.
Daniel Smythe-Smith Might be in mortal danger…
But that’s not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family’s annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten-year-old who thinks she’s a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending…
Why You Should Read This…
And if you want a governess story that isn’t quite as dark and heavy as Agnes Grey, Julia Quinn’s A Night Like This is highly entertaining! I listened to this audiobook over the holidays last year, and it is now one of my favourite JQ novels. I find that the Bridgerton novels can actually feel… thin?… at some points and rely on general love of the family. However, the Smythe-Smith novels are in the same world but are a bit more developed and entertaining to me.
You are obviously familiar with her Bridgerton series, the Smythe-Smith family musicale is mentioned several times in it. And it turns out that not only is there a Smythe-Smith series to go with Bridgerton, there is also the Rokesby series, as well as the Bevelstoke series if you want to read JQ’s back catalogue!
If you are interested in more period drama reading, you can find my recommendations for The Gilded Age here and Bridgerton here!
What books would you include on your list of the best books if you love Sanditon?
Cheers,
The Historian
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