When young Charlotte Heywood arrives in the seaside resort of Sanditon, a town seeking to reinvent itself as a fashionable destination, she too attempts to begin anew.

As she begins to settle into Sanditon society, a slew of new arrivals stirs up emotions. Among them are relatives of the wealthy widow Lady Denham, seeking her generous fortune; Miss Lambe, a rich heiress; and Sydney Parker, the handsome young man who catches Charlotte's eye. Charlotte must navigate the complicated web of liaisons, finding herself more involved than she ever intended…

Collected here with her unfinished work The Watsons, and the novella-in-letters, Lady Susan, Austen’s final, unfinished novel demonstrates her biting sense of humour and gives readers a thrilling glimpse of a genius at work.