Jane Austen

Beautiful, flirtatious, and recently widowed, Lady Susan Vernon seeks an advantageous second marriage for herself, while attempting to push her daughter into a dismal match. A magnificently crafted novel of Regency manners and mores that will delight Austen enthusiasts with its wit and elegant expression

Lady Susan

Sarah Sammis

Lara Engle

After seeing the movie Love and Friendship, I sought out the source material, Lady Susan by Jane Austen. Both book and movie are amusing comedies of manners. Both are entertaining, and both have weaknesses. The book fills in some of the blanks of character movement that were glossed over and somewhat confusing in the movie. The movie fleshes out some character traits more fully and gives us genuinely comic moments that are not in the book, an entertaining addition. In both, the conniving and in-want-of-funds widow Lady Susan Vernon uses her charm and feminine wiles to attempt to secure financially viable husbands for herself and her newly-eligible daughter. Her harsh judgment of others never extends to any form of self-analysis or reflection. She is by far the least likable and most amusing character in the book. Her scheming doesn't get her what she wants, but they all eventually get what they deserve.

Catarina lino 

Wilde

Liked the letter based format but otherwise it bored me.

"My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age! Just old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and to have the gout; too old to be agreeable, too young to die." Written by Jane Austen in the mid 1790s, Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel, and is a fascinating addition to Austen's body of work.

Ilse

This is my first venture into Jane Austen’s work and despite the many a wall of text, I loved seeing the drama unfold! The writing format was new to me, but I actually rather liked it. It has for sure made me curious to her other works, and tastes for more!

Camila

Amina Madadi (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ)

When you hear Jane Austen, your mind shifts automatically to pride and prejudice, Emma or any other of her novels. This novella however, is very different. Presented in a series of letters, Jane Austen tells the story of a 35 years old widow, Lady Susan Vernon.

Lady Susan's "almost" perfect, beautiful, smart, very well mannered and know how to converse.
Lady Susan is also evil, manipulative and a great scheme maker.
She has a great history of flirting and chasing both single and married men, her late husband always ignored it to avoid a scandal).

Lady Susan has a 16 years old daughter, Frederica, as beautiful as her mother but very nervous (you can understand why, her mother torments her in every possible way).

While surching for an advatagious match for herself, Lady Susan won't hesitate throwing her daughter to an immature, unintelligent, "rich" young man, Sir James Martin.

From letter to letter, the reader gets to know the different characters, witness a ruthless creature in action and be delighted by the talent of one of the greatest authors

Celeste Richardson

Lady Susan is the fifth story I’ve read from Ms. Austen, and it is the fifth that I loved more than I expected. Lady Susan is a beautiful, intelligent, flirtatious, selfish, conniving, manipulative widow on the prowl for her second husband. She is also a neglectful, borderline abusive mother to a teenaged daughter, viewing her only as a burden and possible leverage into a better life through marrying said daughter off against her will. Lady Susan sees no value in the lives and opinions of others; they are pawns to play against each other for her amusement and means for supporting her own lifestyle. All in all, Lady Susan is simply a horrible person.

But dang it if she’s not funny. Ms. Austen did a wonderful job telling this story. I’ve never been a huge fan of books told in letter format. There are exceptions, of course; The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Dear Mr. Knightley, as examples. And now I can add Lady Susan to that list. It was witty and sarcastic and funny. It made me smile on a day when smiling was starting to feel like an expression out of my reach. Not to mention that it was hilarious watching Lady Susan crash and burn. I was thoroughly amused by the story, and I’m very glad it was chosen as a group read this month.

Emma Friedheim

A lovely, quick read that really highlights Jane Austen's wit and humor. Recently saw the movie (Love & Friendship) and it captures the same! Plus some outrageous/beautiful/unrealistic Kate Beckinsale dresses :)

Fraser Simons

How terrible am I for wishing Lady S sort of got away with it??? Regardless, such a fun and funny novel. Something of a feat for me. I’m reading Quixote and finished JR last week, but think I might have smiled more and been entertained—on a lighthearted front—by this small epistolary effort than either (certainly by Quixote, anyway).

Audrey Vandecauter 

3,5/5 ✨

Very well written, lady Susan is very different from Austen’s usual heroines, although she was an unforgettable character, the story in itself wasn’t.

daisy

i dont think i like austen's heroine this time, she just has all the personality that i personally dont really like

Eugenia Andino

Una historia breve y entretenida sobre una mujer encantadora... y egoísta, con mucha cara dura. Muy distinta de cualquier otra obra de la autora excepto en los toques de humor.

Swasti Ramadhin

Lady Susan is Jane Austen's shortest and least known novel. I certainly didn't know of it until recently. I didn't think I'd enjoy it much since it's an epistolary novel and I heard that it was quite different compared to her other novels, but I ended up loving it! I'm just sad that it was so short. The ending was a bit abrupt, but I can live with that.

Nicolás Niño 

Roman

Chantale

I got bored with this book. Didn't like it at all

Destini Baylis Adams

Jane Austen is my very favorite writer, so for Jane Austen July, I was excited to finally have an excuse to check out  Lady Susan . Boy was I in for a surprise. 
 First, this novella is quite different than Austen's other novels in form and characters. This epistolary novel is written specifically in letters between the heroine Susan Vernon to Catherine Vernon or Alicia Johnson as well as letters written between Catherine Vernon to Lady De Courcy and etc. Lady Susan was is an eye-opening heroine for Austen and that time period. I like that she was in her late thirties, attractive, and smart; yet she is selfish, deceitful, and an adultress. I find it quite funny that she is very unapologetic about her decisions despite how they affect others-normally, I would find it sadistic and alarming; but because of the time period and the balls of this heroine, I can't help but laugh!

Pia Sophia

Yes, yes, yes! Wow, what a different side of Jane Austen I just encountered. And I'm shocked! In a very good way. This book is everything you would want it to be: it's juicy, it's mean, it's feminist, funny and intelligent. Lady Susan, you're the worst. But oh, does it make you the best anti-heroin young Jane could have made you. I am so glad I read this.

'Of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a Man of his age! - just old enough to be formal, ungovernable and to have the Gout - too old to be agreable, and too young to die.' The scheming and unscrupulous Lady Susan is unlike any Austen heroine you've met in this fascinating early novella. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

Sandy

This was so wonderfully easy to read, and I'm not usually one for epistolary novels.

To think that Jane Austen wrote this as a teenager has me even more in awe of her. It is not a simple femme fatale story, it has you questioning your morals, your taste in characters and your allegiance to them.

Lady Susan is the perfect anti-heroine because her actions are often despicable, yes, but there is something about her strength and self-righteousness that has to be admired.

On a number of occasions I thought about what kind of person she would be like in the present day and age. Is this what you get when you confine women to marriage and lives as wives? Some characters just cannot be caged.

In any way, you can feel the mischievous joy JA must have felt while writing this. A woman with the entire world at her feet, by her own design. This book features one of my all-time favourite quotes:

“I am tired of submitting my will to the caprices of others - of resigning my own judgement in deference to those to whom I owe no duty, and for whom I feel no respect.“

 Bruna Acioly Leão

One of Jane Austen's first work, Lady Susan is a novella told in epistolary format. It is not quite up there with Austen's main works, but you can see here how she was developing her style and her knack for creating interesting characters and exerting social commentary that would have come to be so highly associated with her novels.

Lady Susan is an unlikable heroine; she schemes, she manipulates, she tries to force her daughter into marrying someone she detests and either scolds or ignores her at any given time, she toys with other women's husbands and their intended suitors, she disguises and justify her behaviors to those who might once doubt it, and then she mocks them all in letters to her friend Alicia.

Catherine Vernon, married to her brother-in-law is the only one who sees through her schemes, but she is helpless when her own brother seems to be falling for Lady Susan and nothing will dissuade him from the idea of hers being a perfectly agreeable character.

The story and the characters are quite straightforward, the manipulations not so intricate as with Austen's other works, but it is still compelling, her writing is still lovely to read and the story's simplicity is enough to grasp the reader's attention. She definitely got better at writing in her later years, but this is still an accomplished piece of literature that would be hard to criticize if not for comparing it with its author's own superior work.

It is not my favorite of her works, but I think that if you are someone who is unsure about reading Austen and don't want to commit to a full novel just yet, this novella might be a good place to start. If you are already familiar with her works and are curious about this one and whether it is as good as the others, I'd say you would not be disappointed.

Lady Susan

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