Originally started in 1803 (and apparently abandoned unfinished sometime in 1805), The Watsons is one of Jane Austen's early efforts. The roughly 80 manuscript page work, which did not have chapter divisions, tells the story of Mr. Watson, a widowed and ailing clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, is the heroine of the story, and the narrative focuses on her culture shock as she returns back home from living with a wealthy aunt, and her romantic entanglements, as well as those of her husband-hunting sisters. It's unclear why exactly Austen never finished the work -- some speculate that the circumstances of the characters in the novel (an ailing clergyman) hit too close to home after the death of Austen's father in 1805; others speculate that it actually served as a sort of "ur-text" for what later became Emma , with many elements resurfacing in that later work. Regardless, The Watsons is considered to be an incrediby promising start to a novel, and sure to be of interest to Jane Austen fans and scholars. This volume is based on the unpublished manuscript preserved in the Austen family after Jane's death in 1817, eventually being published by her nephew in 1871 in his A Memoir of Jane Austen. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Hampshire, England, to George Austen, a rector, and his wife, Cassandra. Her novels include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and N orthanger Abbey and Persuasion , published together posthumously in 1818. A short epistolary novella, Lady Susan , and another unfinished work, The Watsons , were publish posthumously in 1871, and a final unfinished novel, Sanditon , was eventually published in 1925. Her works are considered to be among the finest examples of early 19th century British literature, hallmarks of the transitionto 19th century literary realism.