Episode 1

Recently widowed, the unscrupulous and beautiful Lady Susan Vernon is determined to scheme her way through high society in the hope of a profitable new match.

She’s also after marrying off her unfortunate teenage daughter, Frederica.

What sort of welcome can she expect when she pays a visit to her brother and his wife..?

Lady Susan’s dear friend, Alicia, narrates her story.

Written in 1794 in the form of a series of letters, Jane Austen's magnificent first novella is as subversive as it is charming.

It was published in 1871, 44 years after the author’s death.

Omnibus of the first five of ten parts dramatised by Lavinia Murray.

Lady Susan …. Harriet Walter
Mrs Alicia Johnson …. Maggie Steed
Mrs Catherine Vernon …. Imelda Staunton
Lady de Courcy …. Jill Balcon
Reginald de Courcy .... Robert Hands
Sir Reginald de Courcy .... Geoffrey Whitehead
Frederica Vernon …. Michelle Wesson

Piano music composed and played by Julie Cooper.

Director: Jocelyn Boxall

Producer: Jeremy Mortimer

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1999.