Rating: 4 out of 5 Magical Coffee Cups
From Goodreads:
Beautiful, flirtatious, and recently widowed, Lady Susan Vernon seeks an advantageous second marriage for herself, while attempting to push her daughter into a dismal match. A magnificently crafted novel of Regency manners and mores that will delight Austen enthusiasts with its wit and elegant expression.
Not what I expected from Jane Austen.
Lady Susan is flirting all around society in an attempt to land herself a rich new husband while also trying to find anyone to marry her daughter. So: good man for herself, literally anyone for her daughter regardless of how her daughter feels about said man.
The entire book is told through letters. Fun Fact: I have found that this is called an epistolary novel or novella seeing as it is only around 80 pages.
Lady Susan’s letters are pretty entertaining. At one point she wants to go and visit a friend, the friend writes back stating that her husband had an attack of the gout, meaning she is unable to entertain any visitors because she has to take care of her husband. The friend, Alicia, even went as far as to accuse her husband of purposely getting sick just to upset her. Here is Lady Susan’s response:
“My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age! Just old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and to have the gout; too old to be agreeable, too young to die.”
Another letter Susan is complaining that another woman unfairly dislikes her for the simple act (Sarcasm) of trying to ruin her engagement.
“She does not like me. To be sure when we consider that I DID take some pains to prevent my brother-in-law’s marrying her, this want of cordiality is not very surprising, and yet it shows an illiberal and vindictive spirit to resent a project which influenced me six years ago, and which never succeeded at last.”
I mean really, just because someone tried to ruin your marriage six years ago, that’s no reason to dislike them. (more sarcasm).
Such a fun little collection of letters. This book has also been recently been made into a movie and I am so excited to see it on the screen. I hope the movie is just as spunky as the book.
Literary Coffee 