Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
It’s been so long since I last read anything by Jane Austen (I guess nothing since Mansfield Park in 2012?), that all the drama in ‘Lady Susan’ came across as amusingly surprising to me. It’s an epistolary novella, which means all of it is narrated through a bunch of letters, which are hilariously gossipy in nature.
Well, Lady Susan is recently widowed and a famed coquette, a beautiful heartbreaker who enjoys flirting with men without necessarily intending to marry them. But she is now looking for a suitable husband, both for herself and for her poor 16-year-old daughter Frederika, who has absolutely no interest in the man her mother has picked out. Basically, Lady Susan wants to kill two birds with two weddings: secure herself a promising new husband and conveniently tick her motherly duties off the list.
When Lady Susan decides to make a long visit to her dead husband’s brother Charles Vernon, his wife Catherine begins to worry that Susan might have set her eyes on a young man who is also visiting them (keeping this spoiler-free as you can see). The novella is a string of amusing letters, some between Susan and a dear friend, others between Catherine and her mother, and a few other letters between a different set of characters.
In one of the most entertaining aspects of the story, Lady Susan is indeed an expert flirt and also a scheming, ambitious woman who, despite being in her 30s, has all the charms and frills of someone capable of charming whichever man she chooses. There are rumors about her courting a married man, while also trying to break off a potential engagement between a different young couple because she supposedly covets the male suitor for herself. Are all the rumors about her true? The letters reveal enough for the reader to more than join the dots.
Jane Austen spins a fun little tale about love, personal ambition, and marriage. Although given its short length, it’s also a little forgettable. I really wish there was a little more of Frederica, Lady Susan’s daughter. Even though she isn’t the protagonist, much of the tension in the tale surrounds the pressure Susan puts on the teen to marry a suitor she despises. Thankfully, there are others who try to stand up for the poor girl, but Frederica herself gets very little opportunity to voice her feelings. In fact, there’s just one letter where we really get to hear from her.
For some context, Lady Susan was published posthumously, despite generally being considered a completed manuscript that Jane Austen never submitted for publication. Why didn’t she? Who knows! Maybe she wasn’t completely satisfied with it or intended to flesh it out further someday. There could be a hundred other reasons, of course, so that’s purely me making wild guesses. Adding a few more letters would’ve undoubtedly made it more interesting.
The climax is pure comedy, with a twist that’s cleverly foreshadowed but still manages to feel laughably unexpected. It’s the kind of ending that probably would’ve shocked readers in Austen’s time, although modern readers might just be left smirking at how it all falls into place. At least for Lady Susan!
For those who love Regency-era stories and haven’t read this little book, go ahead and pick it up. You’ll most likely be entertained. There’s also a 2016 movie called Love & Friendship based on the book, with Kate Beckinsale playing the widowed Susan. I haven’t seen it, but it sounds good.
Rating for ‘Lady Susan’: 3 stars on 5. It’s available for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read Next: Should You Read ‘A Man’ by Keiichiro Hirano?
