Jane Austen's unfinished novel set at the seaside is 'Sanditon.' Austen began the work in January 1817 under the title 'The Brothers' and wrote twelve chapters before stopping in March, probably because of illness.
The story follows Charlotte Heywood, who visits the developing seaside resort of Sanditon after meeting Mr. and Mrs. Parker. Mr. Parker is enthusiastic about transforming what was once a small fishing village into a fashionable commercial resort, complete with lodging, bathing machines, and new houses near the shore. Austen uses the town's development to satirise fashionable health schemes, speculation, tourism, and exaggerated claims about seaside cures.
A common mix-up is with 'The Watsons,' another unfinished Austen work, or 'Northanger Abbey,' which is complete and was published after her death. 'Sanditon' remained a fragment because Austen died in July 1817. Her original manuscript was transcribed and published in 1925, and later writers produced various continuations. The novel's setting is widely associated with the growth of English coastal resorts during the Regency period.