Sanditon: Official ITV Tie-In Edition

I love how it shows how two people may think they are complete opposite from each other but the truth is that they are the same in many ways.I give it 5 stars simply because it is a great book!

I very much enjoyed the book because it was just like the movie

Def needs season 2, it can't end like that!

Well written and followed the ITV story with more depth. I loved Sanditon and we the Sisterhood desperately need a season 2.

The book and series are really good! It is unfinished. Hoping for a second book and series 2 then it would be my absolute favorite;)

Lovely. A nice revisit to the series!

Love the book. Read it so fast. Love Sanditon. Great show.

poor writing

*THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SEEN THE SERIES*This must have been a very difficult brief to complete, to work only from a script without having seen the series, knowing that the book will most likely only be bought by people who have seen the series and will judge it against that. I’ve also read that the author was given very little time to complete it, an unfortunate consequence of the commercial ‘novelisation’ of TV programmes designed to make as much money from merchandising and spin-offs as possible. Another consequence of this is that the text contains more than a few errors which were not picked up at proofreading stage, although this sadly is fairly common in books these days.Bearing this in mind, I think the author has done quite a good job. She’s brought the characters and the scenery to life, and she’s added some useful background information, extra bits and given us a bit more insight into what some of the characters are thinking.I especially like the fact that she’s expressed more of Mary Parker’s frustration at Tom and his pig-headedness about his project and she’s given more depth to Georgiana’s (mixed race) character and the alienation she must have felt. The scenes with Esther, Clara and Edward are well done too.However the main love story is not totally convincing. Charlotte comes across as a lot more naïve than she does in the series and there is very little depth given to Sidney’s character. We don’t really find out how and why they fell in love as the script is more or less produced verbatim in their scenes and there is very little of what they are thinking or extra details. In fact we start to think that Sidney is actually in love with Eliza, which really doesn’t come across like that in the TV programme.The first two-thirds of the book are good but then it starts to fall apart. Is this because the plot itself took unexpected turns and the author couldn’t quite empathise with the direction it was taking, or because she was writing to such a deadline that she had to rush to the end? Or possibly that the later episodes were changed considerably during filming, taking on a life of their own with the beautiful acting and amazing chemistry of the two main leads, which any writer could not even try to reproduce without having seen?!There is one very big plot hole too that wasn’t even in the series. At the ball, Sidney and Charlotte are having their ‘conversation’ on the balcony. They are interrupted at a crucial moment by Edward entering the ballroom and causing a commotion. In the TV programme, Sidney rushes down to help escort Edward out and then puts him on the coach to London, while Charlotte comforts Esther. In the book none of this happens, Edward leaves of his own accord, and we don’t see anything more of Sidney or Charlotte until they are at the fire, helping to put it out. So what happened in between? Arguably he therefore had time to finish his proposal!The end, like the TV series, is rather contrived, rushed and very sad, but in fact slightly better as Mary seems to show more remorse and Sidney at least takes Charlotte’s hand before saying goodbye. Let’s hope that if and when a second series is produced, and if the author gets a commission to write the sequel, that she will have a better idea of the importance of the main love story and the two main characters, who are after all the pivotal focus of this enchanting programme.

I have watched the ITV series 3 times on ITV Player and, while waiting for the DVD release, I looked forward to reading this novelisation. I have not been disappointed. In fact it is just like watching it all over again as this book seems to contain every item of dialogue, verbatim, from the series. This is then skilfully woven together with descriptive prose by Kate Riordan to produce a charming novel which perfectly captures the flavour of the ITV production.I am only halfway through the book but am enjoying every page. I was rather foolishly hoping that the book might extend past the TV ending but, of course, it doesn’t. (I cheated and looked at the last page!).I am a lover of books but seldom read novels. This one, however, I will probably re-read. “For the avoidance of doubt”, the book contains nothing from Jane Austen’s original unfinished novel.

I suppose my first comment should be, if you expect this book to be written in the style of Jane Austen, with her beautiful descriptions, word-weaving and – obviously – in the suitable language of late 18th century England, then this book is not for you. As television script writer Andrew Davies states in his foreword to this book, “Austen’s 60-page fragment only offered enough story material for half of the first episode” of the ITV series. I agree with previous reviewers that it must have been difficult to fashion an elaborate story from the meagre fragments of Austen’s outline of her intended new novel. However, I feel that this book’s author Kate Riordan should have been allowed sufficient time to not just transform the TV script’s dialogue and directions into a prose version of the whole. She should have been allowed to add a lot more visual descriptions, character background and development, and such. Also, her support team at the publishing house should have done a better job with regard to typos (missing words) and error spotting. Towards the beginning of the book, the three Denhams and Clara disappear out of a scene without mentioning or explanation. On TV, there is a cut between scenes; in the book, someone who hasn’t seen the TV show won’t know what’s going on. Later on, Mary Parker walks out of a room with her children only to unexplainedly be back in that room mere moments later. The depiction of the German doctor annoyed me, too. The German language strewn into his lines is very badly wrong on numerous occasions. It would have been very easy to do a good job with this by simply using Google Translate or such. I found this unprofessional and lazy.In my opinion, the book’s Charlotte comes across as more naive than TV’s Charlotte. Sidney Parker remains a flat character. The lack of internal struggle of Charlotte’s regarding her fancy for Sidney and her obvious liking of poor Young Stringer makes her appear ignorant and heartless.The end of the book feels rushed. I bought Sanditon because I had missed the last two episodes of the TV series and wanted to catch up on what happened. Although the series’ last episode clearly ends just like in the book, I can only compare the sudden ending to a slap in the face, leaving the reader entirely unsatisfied. Yes, most likely the script writer aimed at a ‘cliff hanger’ ending with view to the commissioning of Sanditon’s second series. Sadly, in its novelisation, this simply does not work and leaves behind a bitter taste.

Great book to go with the first series of Sanditon. Hoping for another series and another book.

I watched the series on tv before I read this book. I didn't like the series because to me it was NOT Jane Austen. Then I watched it again as 'a period drama', nothing to do with Austen and i enjoyed it. So I read the book the same way and enjoyed that also. It is almost exactly like the script of the series. We get to hear some thoughts of the characters which is not possible in a drama.I would like to see her write a sequel, even though I believe the series has been cancelled. It would be good to have answers and problems resolved.Don't approach it as an Austen read and you might find you like it.