Lady Susan

Lady Susan Vernon needs somewhere to stay. Recently widowed and short of money, she writes to her brother-in-law with an affectionate account of her wish to join his family. In a letter to her closest friend, the same visit sounds distinctly less appealing: it is simply the best refuge available after her conduct has made another household uncomfortable.

Jane Austen gives us both letters, and then lets the prospective hostess have her say. Mrs Vernon suspects a visit of convenience and has no intention of being charmed into overlooking what she has heard. Lady Susan, meanwhile, can present a flirtation as discretion and a scheme for her daughter’s marriage as maternal devotion. Her private frankness is startlingly funny, especially beside the considerate manner she prepares for people whose cooperation she needs.

This short novel is told largely through correspondence, so every account has a recipient and a purpose. You are invited to compare versions, notice what has been left out, and watch one persuasive voice encounter another person’s resistance. The quick exchanges make it easy to read several letters at a sitting, while the situation gives their wit an uncomfortable edge. Lady Susan’s daughter Frederica has wishes of her own and far less freedom to insist on them. Austen keeps the practical stakes of this family contest in view: hospitality, money and marriage all depend on whose story is believed. The fascination is in hearing how confidently Lady Susan makes her case, even when you have just read the evidence against it.