Lady Susan
By Jane Austen
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Depicted through letters, Lady Susan tells the story of the titular character as she seeks husbands for herself and her daughter while maintaining a clandestine relationship with a married man. It is believed that Austen wrote Lady Susan in 1794, although it was not published until 1871, long after Austen’s death in 1817. Although written in Austen’s trademark style, Lady Susan is remarkable among Austen’s canon as Lady Susan pursues matches significantly younger than herself and for Austen’s mild treatment of Lady Susan’s adultery, which is more harshly punished in her other works, notably Mansfield Park.
Lady Susan has been adapted for the stage and re-imagined in text.
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Jane Austen
Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist whose work centred on social commentary and realism. Her works of romantic fiction are set among the landed gentry, and she is one of the most widely read writers in English literature.
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Reviews for Lady Susan
587 ratings61 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Such a witty, sarcastic, fun epistolary, starring some of the bitchiest, deliciously nasty lady villains I've read in a while. Lady Susan and Mrs. Johnson are some seriously devious, shallow chicks. Jane Austen wrote this when she was 18, and I wish she had turned it in to a whole novel.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lady Susan, widow of Frederic Vernon, invites herself to Churchill, where his brother's family live (having overstayed her welcome with friends at Langford), stating that she looks forward to meeting his wife and children for the first time. (Six years earlier, when Frederick Vernon was forced to sell Vernon Castle, she refused to let Charles Vernon buy the family estate, as he was then courting Miss de Courcy. For unspecified reasons, Lady Susan vehemently opposed the match, though she has yet to meet the lady as the novel opens.) Reginald de Courcy, Mrs Vernon's brother, has heard about Lady Susan's sojourn at Langford and decides to visit Churchill to meet this marvel, "the most accomplished coquette in England". As events unfold, Mrs Vernon observes Lady Susan's behaviour and attempts to mitigate it, within the boundaries of the established manners of the time.This is quite a short book, written in epistolary form. Far from being the usual Jane Austen heroine of a young lady 'in need of a husband', Lady Susan of the title is no longer young (approximately 35 years old), being a widow of seven months when we read her first letter, and with a sixteen year old daughter, Frederica. Lady Susan is actually the villainess of the piece, manipulating people for no other apparent reason than her own amusement.The letters we read form the correspondence between different parties (Mrs Vernon with her mother, Lady de Courcy; Lady Susan with her friend in London, Mrs Johnson and so on), so we see the story unfold from different points of view, with varying amounts of sensibility.Though we never meet any of the characters face to face, we get to see them from the inside (including Lady S). We can see, both from letters about her as well as letters from her, that Lady Susan only befriends people to use them, but it is interesting to watch how people's attitudes to her change as she bestows or withdraws her regard (even the sceptical Mrs Vernon); and to watch her calculating that effect.An interesting, captivating book (as I find all Jane Austens), though short. Even though this was an early effort, she really captures the essence of each character through what is written or omitted, and she can tell a whole story with just a sentence dropped in passing.On a personal note, although I've read all her major works, this is the first time I read this Austen. It's nice to come to it fresh, though I will be re-reading it in future, now I've found a copy. I read [Lady Susan] in two sittings. The first time, I found it hard to get into the flow of reading the epistolary form, and felt a bit detached from the characters (possibly because there was no 'action'). However, when I came back to read the second half the next day, I actually found that understanding the way the characters thought made it more intimate and engaging.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What I like best about “Lady Susan” is the eloquent language. I don’t normally favour epistolary fiction, but it’s the language that makes this short piece work well for me.The plot is vague, and characterisation is limited, yet the author keeps it interesting despite these restrictions.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Several months ago I started reading Lady Susan with a sense of foreboding—so many negative reviews, plus my dislike for epistolary novels—and ended up devouring Miss Austen’s story! I absolutely loved the book, so much so that I am reconsidering Liaisons Dangereuses and Evelina. I do not care how young Jane Austen was when she wrote this: it is brilliant, just as all her other books are. Unlike some comments (by critics) I don’t see the candidness with which Lady Susan Vernon and her friend Alicia Johnson weave their shameless plans to be improbable. I do not see why people would not openly scheme in letters and unveil their souls as they really were, to their equals—remember, ipad generation: there were no Internet or cell phones then! Last night I finally dared to try to watch the movie made of it, Love & Friendship. This time, my foreboding mood was proven correct: the movie is a sham and I could barely stand 20 minutes of the shameless eviscerating of Jane Austen’s fine story! Kate Beckinsale (who used to be gorgeous and looks bland in the movie) is simply unconvincing as the cunning, smooth-talking, ingratiating Lady Susan Vernon from the book. Her interpretation is lukewarm at most, her face as blank as a clean blackboard. Something else that struck me was the fashion; more specifically, the dresses sitting at the waist. By mid 1790’s (when, scholars believe, Miss Austen might have written this story) waists were coming up—not as high as they got by the early 1800’s. The dresses in the movie were a cross between early 1700’s and Victorian fashion, with the large hats of the 1700’s looking more like pictures hats. And the choice of a man as narrator mystifies me… Stick to the book—one, I have a feeling, I will reread soon.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm extremely happy to have read this little book of letters, great concept. As I was reading, Lady Susan reminded me of a movie I'd watched called Lillie played by Francesca Annis made in 1978. I would recommend this book to lovers of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and Historical/Regency Fiction.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5For such a short novel, Austen packed a lot in. I enjoyed the epistolary style, the to-ing and fro-ing of gossip and scheming, the outrage at other people's behaviour. I found the lack of descriptions of houses, balls, soldiers and country mansions refreshing, and appreciated the definition of the characters through other people's perceptions of them rather than a straight narrative description. Perhaps because the titular character is in her mid 30s, the book seemed more mature than the other Austen books I've read. Lady Susan is a horror but she's also very winning. I think I would have enjoyed her company. She's like my other favourite Austen characters, Lizzie Bennett and Emma Woodhouse - feisty and impetuous, but with the added naughtiness of being a marriage wrecker and arch manipulator. I should disparage her, but she's too much fun!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unlike any other Jane Austen book you have ever read, the title character is unlike any other Jane Austen protagonist you have ever encountered...or is she the antagonist?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Lady Susan, Jane Austen has created a woman who is quite a piece of work.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Beautiful, 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is obviously not comparable to Austen's better known works. I listened to it on a public domain website.
The story consists of a series of letters that are exchanged between various characters. The sophisticated, witty, elegant and recently widowed Lady Susan is on the hunt for a second husband. Dragging her unloved and neglected daughter in her wake she proceeds to visit the households of a number of relatives in order to pursue a match. Her flirtatious behaviour and carelessness with the feelings of all those in her path are the subject of much letter-gossip. To her face, the perpetrators of course remain impeccably courteous.
Austen's novels are brilliant because they accurately portray human behaviour in a way that most authors shy away from. She reveals the true hearts of her characters, in this book through letters. As always, she turns the awkward, uncomfortable but necessary pretences of society into humour. She is no doubt revealing her own amusement through her writing and comments extensively on romantic relationships and her views of them in the process...
Silly woman to expect constancy in so charming a man.
This was worth listening to but it would probably have been easier to read as it was hard at times to keep up with the characters due to the constant flow of letters. There is obviously no bad language, violence or sexual content--just a bit of polite flirting! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen's mature work skewers the economic and social basis of the English landed gentry of her time with rapier wit and exquisite irony. In this novella, evidently written when Austen was 19, the weapon is a bludgeon and the wit is satire. Lady Susan Vernon is a shameless adventuress (in the old, not the modern meaning), but her chutzpah is such that it's hard not to root for her as she lies, manipulates, flatters, seduces and cons her way through life - though her utter unconcern for her daughter's welfare is impossible to forgive. She gets off some caustic zingers about men, relationships and marriage, as well."Lady Susan" is nowhere near the standard of Austen's six published novels - in particular, the characterisation of everyone but Lady Susan is pretty much flat; and the novella abruptly wraps up with a few pages of exposition. But this early draft, which Austen tried not to have published, is a remarkably good read all the same, and all the more so considering its author's age. This is Jane Austen with the cynicism dialled up to 11 and no punches pulled.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Maybe Austen only knew why, in the course of her lifetime, she didn't have it published. As for myself, I purposely came to the text without knowledge of the story, since I find that Introductions and whatnot tend to say far more about a work than I wish to know before I've read the work for myself. I had, therefore, all the room in the world to be surprised by this Susan Vernon.I wouldn't have imagined an Austen heroine like Lady Susan, and I didn't enjoy her much, nor did I gain much satisfaction from the way it all turned out for her in the end. Plus, though there was a time when it had greater popularity in literature, the style of telling a story chiefly through characters' written correspondence isn't my favorite.I imagine that Austen wasn't the keenest on the style for her own writing either, given that she didn't use it in any of her other six completed novels. She even gives the style up before this novel is finished, beginning her third-person Conclusion by writing, "This correspondence...could not, to the great detriment of the Post Office revenue, be continued longer."I now feel much as I did after reading The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott: glad that I read it, and even gladder that the authoress got better with time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Although not vintage Austen, this early epistolary novella does not outstay its welcome, enlivened as it is by the author's characteristically incisive wit. Les Liaisons Dangereuses for lovers of tea and crumpets...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is what you call an epistolary novel. This was in itself something new for me and made me often wonder how would such a book be written in usual romance prose. It sounds quite interesting and realistic the way how it's written though. In this book you'll have a previous glimpse of Austen's brilliance on her way to write her well known later masterpiece, so I recommend this book to other Austen's fans.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel, assumed to be written around 1794, but which was only published in 1871. We quickly learn that the heroine Lady Susan, though reputedly very beautiful, is also a wicked and perverse woman. Recently widowed, though having always been a terrible flirt, she sows discord between a man and his wife when she encourages the man make advances to her. To her particular friend Mrs. Johnson she tells what must be close to her true thoughts, while with everyone else she puts on a show of virtue and motherly love, though we know she's put her daughter in a private London school for girls which has intolerable living conditions, with the sole object of wearing her down, to force her to marry a man she has chosen for her and abhors. It reminded me in some ways of that other famous epistolary novel [Les Liaisons Dangereuses], not least of all because Lady Susan could certainly have competed with the Marquise de Merteuil for undiluted hypocrisy and depravity. It's a short work, just 2.5 hours in audio format, this version being narrated by a fantastic cast of actors. Delightful.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An amusing short work composed of letters written by family members and friends, illuminating the machinations of determined gentry of Austen's era.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a nice quick read. Written as a series of letters between Lady Susan, a recently widowed femme fatale, and her friend who shares her manipulative ways, and various in laws worried about the recently widowed woman's influence on her sister in law's brother. A nicely done portrait of a despicable woman.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Received a copy as part of this month's Bookclub selection. The publisher has given us two light-hearted books with purple covers for Spring time reading. I read most of Austen as a teenager but am not a fan of her now. I basically find her bantering between the sexes and stories of women looking for a man to be "fluff". This story was no different in my mind. I was delighted to see this short novella written in the epistolary fashion though, as that is one of my favourite forms to read and the letters helped speed along the read while also causing Austen's usual bantering between sexes to be told in a one-sided narrative that helped me to not become vexed with the characters so. I did not like any of the characters in the book, but only felt sorry for the neglected and emotionally abused daughter Frederica. An OK story from an author I do not appreciate, as the masses do.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen wrote this when she was twenty, and it is easy to see the makings of a fine novelist. The characters lack the complexity of her later novels, and the ending is a bit abrupt, but it was fun to read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was fun and it reminds me that at times we try to box Jane Austen in too much. This book is so much about poking fun at the system. About turning things on their side and seeing if it changes how we view them. I found this a fast, and surprisingly funny, read.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Liked the letter based format but otherwise it bored me.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book was ok and I liked how all characters were represented in the letters, which allows readers to see what is going on from all perspectives.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was recommended to me as an easy entree into the work of Jane Austen; it was written when she was only 19, I gather. I found that hard to credit as I read it; an epistolary novel, the characters gradually emerge from their correspondence, and much of the sly humour springs from the difference in how the various characters interpret things, and their true opinions as opposed to the ones they give out, and how Lady Susan believes she is, and how others see her. It is catty, worldly, and rollicking good fun ... and then all of a sudden it ends, with an authorial Conclusion, as if the young Jane had got fed up of it, and finished it off in a hurry, and you realise that yes, she was only 19 after all.
It did its job, though: I am now much tempted to investigate her mature work, which I never was before. I should have given it four stars, but for the hasty wrap-up (I wanted to see something of Frederica's true character). - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Had not read this short, epistolary novella before. Every sentence was thoroughly enjoyable Jane Austen. But it doesn't compare to any of her best novels or even to any of her worst novels. Only one character is particularly interesting, the title character of Lady Susan, who is heartless and selfish in an eerily modern manner (complete with affairs with married men and flirtations with younger men). I could imagine her daughter being interesting, but we only glimpse her indirectly and from a distance. And everyone else feels mostly like a stock Regency character.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'd never read an epistolary novel prior to Lady Susan, although I understand it was once a popular format. The he-said she-said back and forth did suit the story well enough, but I missed real narrative prose and the format felt limiting. That said, the characters were compelling and the writing solid.
Lady Susan herself really interested me. She has remarkable depth. I couldn't stand her, but she's quite real enough (classic Enneagram type 2 villain). I took issue only with her overly candid letters to her friend. Someone like Lady Susan should be a true believer in all of her own deceits, making it really difficult to come clean, even to a close friend. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The tale of a manipulative, charmingly evil woman told through letters. Reading the varying accounts of her dealings is great fun.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I am not really a Jane Austen fan, but I thought this was an amusing novella about a manipulative schemer. When Lady Susan is caught out in one of her schemes, one of the characters commiserates with her by saying "facts are such horrid things". The unfortunate husband of one of the characters is described as being "too old to be agreeable, too young to die".The story is told in the form of letters and the various narrators of the audio book did a good job with the characters.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Always a fun read. Very funny, written in the form of letters but very well constructed.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A short novel about someone who is not what you'd think the typical Austen character would be. The word "cougar" comes to mind.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Published in 1871, several decades after her death, this novella is an early work from Jane Austen. It is written in epistolary form, with letters between the major characters providing insight into their personalities. It contains an epilogue written in narrative form that provides closure on what happened to these people.
Lady Susan is intended to be an unlikeable character, and she comes across as scheming and manipulative. I found it interesting to read an early work to see how Austen’s writing progressed. I read a version that included a mini biography of Austen’s life and an assessment of her literary impact (180 pages). This is not her best but certainly worth reading.
Book preview
Lady Susan - Jane Austen
Lady Susan
Jane Austen
HarperPerennialClassicsLogo.jpgCONTENTS
Preface
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXX
Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter XXXVIII
Chapter XXXIX
Chapter XL
Chapter XLI
Conclusion
About the Author
About the Series
Copyright
About the Publisher
Preface
I have lately received permission to print the following tale from the author’s niece, Lady Knatchbull, of Provender, in Kent, to whom the autograph copy was given. I am not able to ascertain when it was composed. Her family have always believed it to be an early production. Perhaps she wrote it as an experiment in conducting a story by means of letters. It was not, however, her only attempt of that kind; for Sense and Sensibility was first written in letters; but as she afterwards re-wrote one of these works and never published the other, it is probable that she was not quite satisfied with the result. The tale itself is scarcely one on which a literary reputation could have been founded: but though, like some plants, it may be too slight to stand alone, it may, perhaps, be supported by the strength of her more firmly rooted works. At any rate, it cannot diminish Jane Austen’s reputation as a writer; for even if it should be judged unworthy of the publicity now given to it, the censure must fall on him who has put it forth, not on her who kept it locked up in her desk.
Chapter I
Lady Susan Vernon to Mr. Vernon
Langford, Dec.
My Dear Brother,—I can no longer refuse myself the pleasure of profiting by your kind invitation when we last parted of spending some weeks with you at Churchhill, and, therefore, if quite convenient to you and Mrs. Vernon to receive me at present, I shall hope within a few days to be introduced to a sister whom I have so long desired to be acquainted with. My kind friends here are most affectionately urgent with me to prolong my stay, but their hospitable and cheerful dispositions lead them too much into society for my present situation and state of mind; and I impatiently look forward to the hour when I shall be admitted into Your delightful retirement.
I long to be made known to your dear little children, in whose hearts I shall be very eager to secure an interest I shall soon have need for all my fortitude, as I am on the point of separation from my own daughter. The long illness of her dear father prevented my paying her that attention which duty and affection equally dictated, and I have too much reason to fear that the governess to whose care I consigned her was unequal to the charge. I have therefore resolved on placing her at one of the best private schools in town, where I shall have an opportunity of leaving her myself in my way to you. I am determined, you see, not to be denied admittance at Churchhill. It would indeed give me most painful sensations to know that it were not in your power to receive me.
Your most obliged and affectionate sister,
S. VERNON.
Chapter II
Lady Susan Vernon to Mrs. Johnson
Langford.
You were mistaken, my dear Alicia, in supposing me fixed at this place for the rest of the winter: it grieves me to say how greatly you were mistaken, for I have seldom spent three months more agreeably than those which have just flown away. At present, nothing goes smoothly; the females of the family are united against me. You foretold how it would be when I first came to Langford, and Mainwaring is so uncommonly pleasing that I was not without apprehensions for myself. I remember saying to myself, as I drove to the house, I like this man, pray Heaven no harm come of it!
But I was determined to be discreet, to bear in mind my being only four months a widow, and to be as quiet as possible: and I have been so, my dear creature; I have admitted no one’s attentions but Mainwaring’s. I have avoided all general flirtation whatever; I have distinguished no creature besides, of all the numbers resorting hither, except Sir James Martin, on whom I bestowed a little notice, in order to detach him from Miss Mainwaring; but, if the world could know my motive there they would honour me. I have been called an unkind mother, but it was the sacred impulse of maternal affection, it was the advantage of my daughter that led me on; and if that daughter were not the greatest simpleton on earth, I might have been rewarded for my exertions as I ought.
Sir James did make proposals to me for Frederica; but Frederica, who was born to be the torment of my life, chose to set herself so violently against the match that I thought it better to lay aside the scheme for the present. I have more than once repented that I did not marry him myself; and were he but one degree less contemptibly weak I certainly should: but I must own myself rather romantic in that respect, and that riches only will not satisfy me. The event of all this is very provoking: Sir James is gone, Maria highly incensed, and Mrs. Mainwaring insupportably jealous; so jealous, in short, and so enraged against me, that, in the fury of her temper, I should not be surprised at her appealing to her guardian, if she had the liberty of addressing him: but there your husband stands my friend; and the kindest, most amiable action of his life was his throwing her off forever on her marriage. Keep up his resentment, therefore, I charge you. We are now in a sad state; no house was ever more altered; the whole party are at war, and Mainwaring scarcely dares speak to me. It is time for me to be gone; I have therefore determined on leaving them, and shall spend, I hope, a comfortable day with you in town within this week. If I am as little in favour with Mr. Johnson as ever, you must come to me at 10 Wigmore street; but I hope this may not be the case, for as Mr. Johnson, with all his faults, is a man to whom that great word respectable
is always given, and I am known to be so intimate with his wife, his slighting me has an awkward look.
I take London in my way to that insupportable spot, a country village; for I am really going to Churchhill. Forgive me, my dear friend, it is my last resource. Were