Lady Vernon and Her Daughter

A Novel of Jane Austen's Lady Susan

By: Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, Jane Rubino

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Jane Austen's novella Lady Susan was written during the same period as another novella called Elinor and Marianne, which was later revised and expanded to become Sense and Sensibility. Unfortunately for readers, Lady Susan did not enjoy the same treatment by its author and was left abandoned and forgotten by all but the most diligent Austen scholars. Until now.

In Lady Vernon and Her Daughter, Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway have taken Austen's original novella and transformed it into a vivid and richly developed novel of love lost and found and the complex relationships between women, men, and money in Regency England.

Lady Vernon and her daughter, Frederica, are left penniless and without a home after the death of Sir Frederick Vernon, Susan's husband. Frederick's brother and heir, Charles Vernon, like so many others of his time, has forgotten his promises to look after the women, and despite their fervent hopes to the contrary, does nothing to financially support Lady Vernon and Frederica.

When the ladies, left without another option, bravely arrive at Charles's home to confront him about his treatment of his family, they are faced with Charles's indifference, his wife Catherine's distrustful animosity, and a flood of rumors that threaten to undo them all. Will Lady Vernon and Frederica find love and happiness and financial security, or will their hopes be dashed with their lost fortune?

With wit and warmth reminiscent of Austen's greatest works, Lady Vernon and Her Daughter brings to vivid life a time and place where a woman's security is at the mercy of an entail, where love is hindered by misunderstanding, where marriage can never be entirely isolated from money, yet where romance somehow carries the day.

©2009 Jane Rubino (P)2009 Random House

Great Story, Enchanting Characters

Although I am an enthusiastic Austin fan, and although I have reread her other novels countless times, I have heartily disliked her unfinished novel Lady Susan. The Rubinos, however, have written a lovely novel in Lady Vernon and her daughter. Terrific characters creative plot and a perfect denouement - it has become one of my favorite recreational reads.

Not the Jane Austen version

A VERY different take on Jane Austen's short novel "Lady Susan". In that version, Susan Vernon is a despicable character, and everyone in her circle is manipulated by her. In this book, Susan is amiable, accomplished, and nice; she is manipulated and malaigned by her in-laws and their social circle. Admittedly, the kinder, gentler Lady Susan isn't as fun or as interesting as the original, but the "revision" is well written, very much in the Austen style. I enjoyed it. The narration suited it perfectly ( this narrator, who I've heard before, can be really good, or unlistenable. This was a one of her good performances.)

Not Lady Susan

The story was good enough, but it is not Lady Susan. The author made too many changes to the characters.

clever idea; execution lacks wit

The idea of this novel intrigued me, so I downloaded it the day it was released; however, it took me months to finish the listen. The authors give the story line of Austen's "Lady Susan" some cute twists, and the novel reads almost like one written in Austen's time. But while Austen's original novella is very witty, this is, for the most part, a serious, drawn-out re-telling of the tale. Like the original, it sometimes capitalizes on the humour in social situations of "perception and prejudice," but not enough to earn the glowing praise in the product description.

It is, however, rated "G," unlike some unneccesarily lusty Austen spin-offs, so Ms Austen is not spinning in her grave over this one.