Jane Austen began writing The Watsons around 1803, whilst living in Bath, but never completed it. It is sometimes presumed the reason she did not complete the novel was due to her father's death in 1805 and the characters bore too much resemblance to real life. Others have presumed that it was because she became discouraged after selling her first novel Susan (later entitled Northanger Abbey) in 1803, and the publisher decided not to publish the manuscript. 

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The fragment remained unpublished until 1871, when her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh included it in his memoir. Jane had left the manuscript untitled, it was her nephew who gave it the title after the family the story centres around. 

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You can read The Watsons for free online at Project Gutenberg.