Lady Susan

by Jane Austen, Coralie Bickford-Smith (Artist)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

One of the first stories Jane Austen ever published, yet just as sharp and satirical as you’d expect from her. This epistolary novella is just as brilliant as all the other Austen you love.

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith

A Penguin Classic Hardcover

Recently widowed, the unscrupulous and beautiful Lady Susan Vernon is determined to scheme her way through high society in the hope of a profitable new match - all while trying to marry off her unfortunate daughter. Ambitious and manipulative, Lady Susan is unlike any Jane Austen heroine you’ve read about before. Told through a series of letters, Jane Austen's magnificent first novella is as subversive as it is charming.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780241582527
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Series:	Little Clothbound Classics
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	4.61(w) x 6.60(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jane Austen, the daughter of a clergyman, was born in Hampshire in 1775, and later lived in Bath and the village of Chawton. As a child and teenager, she wrote brilliantly witty stories for her family's amusement, as well as a novella, Lady Susan. Her first published novel was Sense and Sensibility, which appeared in 1811 and was soon followed by Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Austen died in 1817, and Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1818.

Date of Birth:

December 16, 1775

Date of Death:

July 18, 1817

Place of Birth:

Village of Steventon in Hampshire, England

Place of Death:

Winchester, Hampshire, England

Education:

Taught at home by her father

Table of Contents

Letter I: Lady Susan Vernon to Mr. Vernon — 1
Letter II: Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 2
Letter III: Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 5
Letter IV: Mr. De Courcy to Mrs. Vernon — 7
Letter V: Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 9
Letter VI: Mrs. Vernon to Mr. De Courcy — 12
Letter VII Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 15
Letter VIII Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 18
Letter IX: Mrs. Johnson to Lady Susan — 21
Letter X: Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 22
Letter XI: Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 25
Letter XII: Sir Reginald De Courcy to His Son — 27
Letter XIII: Lady De Courcy to Mrs. Vernon — 30
Letter XIV: Mr. De Courcy to Sir Reginald — 32
Letter XV: Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 36
Letter XVI: Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 39
Letter XVII: Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 41
Letter XVIII: From the Same to the Same — 44
Letter XIV: Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 46
Letter XX: Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 49
Letter XXI: Miss Vernon to Mr. De Courcy — 54
Letter XXII: Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson — 56
Letter XXIII: Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy — 60

Editorial Reviews

Inspired by Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and written in a similar epistolary form, Lady Susan is one of Jane Austen’s earliest finished works. In it, she reveals all the caustic wit and brilliant social satire of her later novellas.

From the Publisher