Lady Vernon and Her Daughter

August 10, 2009
Inspired by Jane Austen's novella Lady Susan
, this biting social comedy from mother-daughter duo Rubino (the veteran author) and Rubino-Bradway (the first-timer) is a delightful, worthy homage to Austen. In 19th-century England, Lady Susan Vernon is left nearly penniless after her honorable, wealthy husband dies and his unscrupulous little brother, Charles, bilks Susan and her daughter, Frederica, of their share of his fortune. Forced to rely upon the kindness of friends, the two spend several months bouncing from home to home. Subjected to the two-faced machinations of her social circle (particularly from Charles's wife, Catherine), Susan cleverly (and believably) turns several of her enemies against each other, using their own words. As in Austen's novels, securing a generous dowry and a “good” marriage (that is, one with money and status) is the all-important goal of every woman, but Susan is a dynamic character more than capable of delivering a shocking surprise.

September 15, 2009
The authors (Rubino writes a contemporary mystery series and a volume of Sherlockian novellas) have brought Jane Austen's fragmentary and unfinished 1795 epistolary novel, "Lady Susan", to life with this clever adaptation. Deftly quoting from and expanding on the original letters, they incorporate them into a sympathetic tale of a widow and her orphaned daughter deprived of their home and lifestyle by the untimely death of Lord Vernon. Forced to depend on the unwilling hospitality of her husband's heir, Lady Vernon does her best to adapt, all the while hoping to improve her daughter's fortunes, not to mention happiness, through an advantageous marriage. Though far more sympathetic than the original self-seeking Lady Susan, Lady Vernon is also the victim of relentless gossip and misunderstanding as she drifts from country house to country house, her vulnerable position highlighting the dangerous plight of women whose economic well-being was subject to the whims of their husbands and the good nature and generosity of the husbands' heirs. VERDICT A surprise ending and livelier, more fully realized characters will reward those familiar with the original and tempt others to read it for the first time. Austen fans will enjoy, although it may be a harder sell for standard historical fiction readers. [See also Monica Fairview's "The Other Mr. Darcy", p. 48, and Austen and Ben H. Winters's "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters", p. 53.Ed.]Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

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