Lady Susan is a short story by Jane Austen that I had never read because I'd heard it wasn't really complete. I decided to take the plunge because the book has been turned into a movie titled Love and Friendship and I would like to see it.The story is told through a series of letters amongst a small set of people. The main character, Lady Susan, is a woman in her mid-thirties who emotionally manipulates people, generally men but ladies as needed. She's a recent widow with a 16-year-old daughter, a timid girl whom she would like to marry off to a man that the girl abhors. Lady Susan is also in the midst of an affair with a married man but that doesn't stop her from flirting and manipulating a man twelve years her junior.
This novella is full of Austen's commentary on personality and society but in the end it falls flat because there is nothing redeemable or likable about Lady Susan. Austen probably knew this because she ends the story with a short summation and never attempted to publish it. I'm sure the movie will be much more fleshed out and I look forward to seeing where they take the story and the character of Lady Susan.
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