Lady Susan — Jane Austen

Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel by Jane Austen. Although the primary focus of this work is the selfish behaviour of Lady Susan as she searches for suitable husbands for herself and her young daughter, the real action shares its importance with Austen's manipulation of her characters' behaviour by means of their reactions to the letters that they receive. Austen demonstrates the subjectivity of the opinions by presenting them -- primarily -- in the letters of one woman to another, thereby suggesting the literary motifs of feminine gossip and jealousy. Readers recognize these subjective motifs and examine the idiosyncrasies of the characters in order to create their own opinion of Lady Susan, as they would with a real acquaintance.