Lady Susan

This high-spirited tale, told through an exchange of letters, is unique in Jane Austen’s small body of work. It tells the story of Lady Susan, a brilliant, beautiful and morally reprehensible coquette who delights in making men fall in love with her, deceiving their wives’ friendship and even tormenting her own daughter, cruelly bending her to her will. Austen clearly delighted in her monstrous heroine, tracing Lady Susan’s manoeuvrings to remarry yet continue on with her lover and marry off her young daughter with great wit, zest and panache.