REVIEW: The Watsons and Emma Watson by Jane Austen, completed by Joan Aiken
Review by MJ Ryan
When tackling the continuation of another author’s unfinished story, the new author must decide whether to try to divine from the available text which direction the original author was going or whether to take the characters in a new direction. I’m not sure it can be easily determined where Jane intended the characters in The Watsons to go. Maybe that’s why it remained during Austen’s lifetime a mere fragment, and maybe that’s why Aiken decided that the latter avenue would be best. Since it would be difficult to completely review the book without giving away a spoiler or two I will give a succinct two sentence review for those who don’t want to be spoiled: as a historical drama the book mostly works. As a continuation of what Jane Austen started, it falls short. For those not worried about being slightly spoiled, read on. (more…)
