Hello my dear friends!! I’m so very exited to welcome back author Jessie Lewis to Austenesque Reviews today! And I’m especially thrilled about this visit because it is part of the Rational Creatures Blog Tour celebration! (Rational Creatures will be released on October 15th!) Jessie Lewis is here to share about her contribution in this magnificent anthology (by the way, Jessie, we are so thrilled to see you taking part in a Quill Ink Collective anthology!! Writing about one of Jane Austen’s most 
infamous and selfish female characters, Jessie shares how she tackles Lady Susan Vernon! (I must say, I love that Lady Susan is included in this anthology and I am very eager to see her character fleshed out!) We hope you enjoy Jessie’s post!
Thank you, Meredith, for having me back here on your wonderful blog to talk about Rational Creatures. The anthology celebrates Austen’s female characters and explores the ways in which they challenged the social mores of their time. One of Austen’s greatest achievements was creating characters who were all unique and yet each still drawn with great depth and complexity. Courage abides with timidity, servility with pride; indeed, all manner of vices and virtues are to be found intermingled Austen’s women.
Among them, Lady Susan is conspicuously and unrepentantly callous, with very little good to mitigate it. She is a widowed woman in possession of a handsome countenance, in desperate want of a good fortune. In her pursuit of it, she displays no regard for others’ feelings, very little shame and about as much maternal instinct as a chamber pot. All in all, not a woman doing much to advance society’s respect for women.
So, when Christina Boyd invited me to write a story for an Austen-inspired feminist anthology, I couldn’t resist the challenge of trying to account for Lady Susan’s journey to becoming the pithy, manipulative coquette we see in the eponymous novel.
There is, of course, a darker side to Lady Susan’s behaviour. Though the original story is amusing, told with Austen’s usual flair for wit, the basic premise of a woman fighting to for her place in the world is one common to all Austen’s works. I wanted to keep it light-hearted, though; both in homage to the original and because celebrating womanhood should not be a miserable exercise! With my tongue firmly set in my cheek, I set about exploring why and how Lady Susan might have come to believe the only way to achieve what she wanted was to manipulate everyone into giving it to her—and The Edification of Lady Susan was the result.
As fans of Austen will know, the original story is epistolary. I chose to follow suit because letters are a such a wonderful way of revealing intent. A character’s duplicity is easily demonstrated when he or she writes several different letters to several different recipients, each with wholly contrary messages. Though dishonesty is obviously unpardonable, I loved working with Lady Susan’s resolve and ingenuity to whip up a hornet’s nest of deceit, all the while celebrating her cleverness in “getting one over” on all the people (men and women) who do to her as she later learns to do to others.
For a bit of fun, I thought I’d share with your readers one of the plans I laid out to help work out the order of the letters in the story. This being a prequel of sorts, the outcome will be no surprise, so it’s not a spoiler—and hopefully it’ll make you smile to see how Lady Susan’s pithiness permeated even the planning stages of the story.
I love it!! So brilliant that you chose to convey this story through letters and I love the comedy of all the schemes and cross-purposes!! Sounds like Lady Susan has a manipulative mother as well! Also, the emojis are so perfect!
And…for those of us that are eager to see a little bit more of this story, Jessie Lewis has kindly shared this excerpt for us to enjoy!
THE EDIFICATION OF LADY SUSAN
JESSIE LEWIS
Letter 5, LADY SUSAN BEAUMONT TO MISS ALICIA FFORDHAM
Kirkbank
Your jealousy is unfounded, Alicia. I hold court over nobody. Lord Doyle is not in love with me. My brother has written, warning me that his friend’s reputation about Town is that of an incorrigible rake. I was never of any value to him, other than a means to indulge his own sense of importance. Worse still, his attentions have convinced the world that I wish to marry him! Why it should be assumed that a young woman’s greatest aspiration should be marriage I shall never understand. Of course, one day I shall marry, else I should have to live with Samuel and his mouse of a wife for the remainder of my days—few though they would then be, for that is the best method of which I can conceive of robbing a woman of her will to live. I have no wish to shackle myself to the first single man across whom I stumble, however, and certainly not one whose credibility has been exposed as wanting.
Neither my mother nor his can suspect Lord Doyle of such dissipation as my brother describes, else they would never have encouraged the match. Yet Samuel has ever had the measure of his set and I would be a fool not to heed his warning. I am furious at my own credulity! To think I had convinced myself capable of influencing him! Nevertheless, one ought always to search for the profit in any situation; thus, I shall say this of the matter: if he is a rake, all the better for me, for it will relieve me of any guilt I might otherwise have felt in working on him.
Be not alarmed by this declaration. The explanation is simple. I see no reason why I should not make him love me, given that so many people deem me capable of it. It is no worse than his toying with me. Indeed, it would be fine retribution for his duplicity were I to make him love me in earnest, only to abandon him for the next man. And as fortune would have it, just such recourse has recently become a possibility. In his letter, Samuel made mention of another of his friends, Mr. Cohen. “If marriage is your design, Sister,” wrote he, “might I suggest another option?” It was not my design, of course; yet what an opportunity to punish Lord Doyle and, at the same time, test the efficacy of my newly learned charms! Samuel has promised to bring Mr. Cohen to Great Mandeley when I return next month. I insist that you do whatever it is you must to hasten your recovery that you might join me there to set all the challenges you please.
Yours &c.,
S. BEAUMONT
Oh well done! Her plan to make Lord Doyle fall in love with her and then abandon him reminds me a little of Henry Crawford…now there is a crossover I’d like to see! Thank you so much for sharing and for being our lovely guest, Jessie!
About Jessie
JESSIE LEWIS enjoys words and wordplay far too much for her own good and was forced to take up writing to save her family and friends from her incessant rabbiting. She dabbled in poetry during her archetypal angst-ridden teenage years, but it was her studies in literature and philosophy at university that firmly established her admiration for the potency of the English language. She has always been particularly in awe of Jane Austen’s literary cunning and has delighted in exploring Austen’s regency world in her own historical fiction writing. You can check out Jessie’s musings on the absurdities of language and life on her blog, Life in Words, or see what she’s reading over at Goodreads. Or you can drop her a line on Twitter, @JessieWriter or on her Facebook page, Jessie Lewis Author.
~ GIVEAWAY TIME ~
There is a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY prize pack in conjunction with this blog tour!!! The prize pack includes these 21 prizes:
- Winner’s choice of one title from each authors’ backlist (that’s 16 books, ebooks, or audiobooks)
- The Rational Creatures bespoke t-shirt/soap/candle
- A brick in the winner’s name to benefit #BuyABrick for Chawton House
- The Quill Collective anthologies in ebook or audiobook
One lucky winner will win this mega-awesome prize! Can I get a woot woot?
To enter for this prize leave a comment on this blog post below!
- These giveaways are open worldwide.
- These giveaways end November 15th!
My gratitude and thanks to Christina Boyd and all the authors in this anthology for making this blog tour possible!
September 18 ~ My Jane Austen Book Club ~ Guest Post
September 20 ~ Long and Short Reviews ~ Guest Post
September 25 ~ Books & Wine are Lovely ~ Playlist
September 27 ~ Fangs, Wands and Fairydust ~ Guest Post
October 2 ~ Babblings of a Bookworm ~ Guest Post
October 4 ~ From Pemberley to Milton ~ Guest Post
***October 9 ~ Austenesque Reviews ~ Guest Post***
October 11 ~ Silver Petticoat ~ Guest Post
October 15 ~ Just Jane 1813 ~ Book Review
October 16 ~ My Love for Jane Austen ~ Guest Post
October 18 ~ Rosie’s Review Team ~ Book Review
October 23 ~ More Agreeably Engaged ~ Guest Post
October 25 ~ The Book Rat ~ Guest Post
October 30 ~ Margie’s Must Reads ~ Book Review
November 1 ~ My Vices and Weaknesses ~ Guest Post
November 6 ~ Diary of an Eccentric ~ Book Review
November 8 ~ Of Pens and Pages ~ Book Review
November 13 / Let Us Talk of Many Things ~ Guest Post
This just popped up as I was shutting down to go to bed but I have to say I am so looking forward to read this anthology. I will be back in the morning to read this blog in depth. Sweet dreams.
Great to have you on board, Sheila, I hope you enjoy the anthology, there are some great stories in there 🙂
“So, when Christina Boyd invited me to write a story for an Austen-inspired feminist anthology, I couldn’t resist the challenge of trying to account for Lady Susan’s journey to becoming the pithy, manipulative coquette we see in the eponymous novel.”
Jessie, I am so grateful that you were so enthusiastic to write a story for #RationalCreatures. Lady Susan is a challenge to write for this theme about strong women because she really has no redeeming characteristics. And though her story here doesn’t redeem her or excuse her, you masterfully show how strong willed and extremely cunning she came to be. She certainly knew how not to be taken advantage of—even if she always manipulates everyone and everything about her to her own will.
Thank you, Meredith, for hosting this blog stop and for supporting the project from the very beginning. I am thrilled you are enjoying the collection. I am hopeful it is as satisfying a read as we aspired to create!
It was great fun to do, Christina, and I’m sure fans of JA will love the collection of stories you’ve put together.
I second your thanks to Meredith for hosting us!
It is such a pleasure to host you, Jessie! I am thrilled to read your post and very honored for the chance to spotlight Rational Creatures!!! Congrats on all this wonderful anthology, ladies!!
Sounds great
It’s certainly an original premise for an Austen based anthology Gwen. Here’s hoping you enjoy it!
those letters are so clever…further proof Jane Austen is timeless
denise
Oh yes, Austen’s influence is everywhere. It’s always an honour working with her characters 🙂
Wooo… hooo… That sounds wonderful. Regardless if I win or not, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this anthology.
That’s fantastic Julia! I’m sure you’ll find lots to enjoy in all the stories. Good luck in the draw!
I can’t emphasize how HARD it is to be limited to just letter-writing to craft a fully-developed story. Jane Austen does it brilliantly in Lady Susan. I am so impressed that Jessie follows the same epistolary format, and she pulls it off like a champ. Bravo, Jessie! The reader certainly learns that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in Lady Susan’s case! Everyone in her family has an agenda!!
Ha ha, thanks Debbie – you’re right, in this story Susan learns her arts and allurements from some stellar teachers, all of whom should have known better than to allow her to follow their example!
This was such a witty, sardonic, bitingly realistic portrayal of Lady Susan! I absolutely loved it!
Thank you Nicole! 🙂
Oh I love the correspondence between these ladies! “Superb that you have the hots for Lord Doyle. Now hurry up and secure him.” => so funny 😀
I can’t deny it was fun writing such hard-nosed characters! Thanks for commenting 🙂
That letter scheme was hilarious! Now I’m dying to read all of it!
Tee hee, glad it gave you a laugh. There really is an emoji for everything – who knew you could annotate an Austeneque novel with them to such amusing effect?!
I thought Jessie did a fab job of channeling Lady Susan. Her letters were witty and wry. Loved it.
So kind of you to host Rational Creatures, Meredith. Your hospitality is warm and friendly as usual. 🙂
Thank you Sophia! And Meredith! 🙂
She sure did, Sophia! And she did such a brilliant job conveying Lady Susan’s character…it sort’ve reminded me a little bit like a high school drama, where everyone is dating and crushing on someone else!!! Loved it!
The letters are such fun. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome. I’m always intrigued how other writers go about plotting their stories. When you see the size of the table Austen wrote her stories on, it’s a wonder how she did it at all!
This was one of the first stories I read in the anthology because I couldn’t wait to see how Jessie pulled it off 😀 And I can say – she did it masterfully! Loved the “outline” too! *Karen ponders using emojis to plot stories* Thanks, as always, for hosting us, Meredith!
Thank you so much Karen! 🙂
So true, Karen! And the outline is hilarious! 🙂 Yes, use the emojis!!! Love them! 🙂
I am so glad that Lady Susan is included in this anthology and liked the outline of the letters you shared. She is certainly very good at manipulation.
Well you know I thought of writing a story explaining how she ended up so vile almost straight away – but it was only as I was writing it that it became clear there would be absolutely no redeeming her! 🙂
I agree! It is so great to see Lady Susan featured in this collection, even if she isn’t redeemable! 😉
Pithy, breezy and ever so witty. No one could write Lady Susan better than the author who invented Tabitha Sinclair. Love your Post-it note plotting, Jessie. I can’t wait to read the whole (unredemptive) tale of Lady Susan. Actually, I can’t wait to read anything you write. 🙂
I can’t decide whether Tabitha and Lady Susan would get on, or if they’d become instant nemeses. Probably the latter! Thanks so much Jan 🙂
Very well said, Jan! 🙂 I am sure you will love this one!
Meredith, thanks for your enthusiasm for Christina’s Rational Creatures project and for spotlighting Jessie Lewis today. The spotlight is well deserved. Jessie’s contribution to the anthology is brilliant. Such snide remarks! Such manipulations! Jane Austen, I’m certain, would love The Edification of Lady Susan.
Thank you Joanne, I’m really happy you enjoyed my contribution to this exciting project 🙂
Thank you for your lovely visit, Joanne! It is such a pleasure to host Jessie and feature the Rational Creatures anthology! I have so much admiration and excitement for this project!
I quite agree, I think Jane Austen would love this back history to her character!
Oh my! This is a new-to-me author and I look forward to exploring more in RC and other works.
Lovely to meet you Janis, I hope you enjoy the anthology! Thanks for commenting 🙂
So happy for you to be introduced to Jessie’s writing, Janis! Definitely check out her debut release of Mistaken – it is an incredible story!
The letters are wonderful. So creative and smart. Letters add so much to this delightful feature.
Thank you April. I love writing letters – they are such a great way to expose a character’s, well, character. Good luck with the draw!
I have always thought that Lady Susan is one of the most witty characters, and I always laugh when I read her letters. Thank you for including her in the Anthology!
I’m very glad you’re pleased to see her in it! Thanks for commenting!
I agree, Eva! One of the most witty and perhaps intelligent!
I do love an epistolary story! Your emoji filled highlights and the excerpt, certainly leave me wanting more! Congratulations to all!
Many thanks Carole. Good luck with the draw!
Oh Jessie I loved your story planning with those short letters and corresponding emojis 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading this story as well as the rest of the book. Thank you for sharing Meredith.
Thanks Glynis – I hope you enjoy the anthology (and am pretty sure you will) 🙂
I have the book! Now to have time to read it. Thank you for the lovely peek! 🙂
Lucky you! We sent very few arcs out!
You have a head start! Hope you enjoy all the great stories Christina has put together Brenda 🙂
That was brilliant! I can’t wait to read the anthology!
Good luck with the draw Susan, you might get lucky!
What a fun post! So many letters in that calendar and it was fun to read the excerpt. I look forward to reading the anthology. Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for reading the post Jennifer. I hope you enjoy the anthology!
I’m really looking forward to this book. It’s great to have stories about other characters that Jane wrote about. Fun post here!!
The project is a great concept and it was great fun to be involved. Good luck with the draw!
So true! I loved that about this anthology – some of my favorite were those stories that spotlight a secondary character we really don’t know that much about like Eleanor Tilney and Sophia Croft!
Congratulations to all of the authors, I have been looking forward to this anthology. So excited to read it. It will go on my TBR pile.
It’s going to be a treat for sure! Good luck with the draw. 🙂
I like the idea of Lady Susan’s backstory, especially as she’s an Austen character I’m less familiar with. I think the mini versions of the letters for your planning are an ingenious idea! Doing it that way must have really helped in your writing process.
I’m looking forward to reading your story in the anthology, Jessie. 🙂
Thank you Elaine. Every writer is different but I’m definitely a planner – I need to know where I’m going before I can write it. A facetious, emoji-riddled spreadsheet is always an added bonus! I hope you enjoy the anthology 🙂
I love the letter writing style. I feel like I am peeking into others private lives. I am looking forward to reading this one.
Thank you, and best of luck with the draw!
OMG!!! That was hilarious. The more I read of the short-list of letters… the more I laughed. That was a hoot. Thanks to Meredith for hosting… and to our author Jessie Lewis for her part in this marvelous work and for this hilarious post. Also, thanks for the generous giveaway. This book is going to be a smash. Thanks Meredith for your comments and say hello to Mr. Bingley. I hope you guys will be OK with this next storm. Dang!! The east coast can’t seem to get a break.
I’m very glad it gave you a smile, the whole story is meant to be very tongue in cheek. Good luck with the draw!
Jessie, you made such a beautiful use of language and humor in your story!
Thank you Christina! 🙂
Oh my these rational creatures are great collection of great ladies, authors and prizes. This is something we will be looking forward to.
I was trying to search for this but this is the only place i can find this. Thanks Meredith. Thanks to all the authors for this opportunity (book and give-away
It really is a wonderful prize draw that Christina has put together! Thanks for your kind words 🙂
If you go to our Facebook page you can follow along the blog tour listing too. The book releases on Monday! Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for your interest!!
Buturot— our Facebook page is “The Darcy Monologues, et al.” for all the happenings for this project and more.
About as much maternal instinct as a chamber pot => lol !! This story promises to be a hoot 😀
It was great fun to write, so I hope it gives readers a laugh. Good luck with the draw!
This anthology sounds wonderful and I can’t wait to read it! And Lady Susan deserves another look!!
If nothing else, she’s entertaining! Thanks for commenting Susan 🙂
I didn’t know chamber pots had instincts! Can’t wait to read this!
I hope you get the chance – good luck with the draw!
Yippee Authors found that are New to me!
And new readers for us, which is just the best! Thanks for popping in!
I love it when a story is written through letters!
Me too – it’s such a unique writing style. Not quite first person, but not third either. Very intimate. Thanks for commenting 🙂
Epistolary literature is an acquired taste and Lady Susan was responsible for me acquiring it. As well as having read it a number of times, I love listening to the audio version I have, featuring Harriet Walter as the eponymous ‘heroine’. It’s beautifully performed by Dame Harriet and others. What a fantastic way to plan a story, Jessie. Got to love the emojis!
I’m glad that not all of the Rational Creatures are redeemed (in the same way that I was with the subjects of DtK). I guess it could be done with Lady Susan, but it sounds as though it’s going to be a lot more fun finding out how she came to be the lady we know from Jane Austen’s work.
Thanks so much Anji. It’s funny – it never really entered my head to try to redeem Lady Susan. And interestingly, in this changing world, I think it’s safe to say that many men in positions of power are magnanimous or moral. Power is a dangerous thing and women need to be as careful with it as men, as we fight for our share of it. Lady Susan is a prime example of finding, but then misusing power.
Woot woot, Meredith! What an amazing giveaway package!
I love the idea of telling Lady Susan’s story with letters — such fun to read. Thank you for sharing, Jessie! The anthology sounds like an excellent read.
Thank you Lori. The give away really is awesome, isn’t it? And I think you’re going to love the anthology 🙂
I’ve always loved books where letters tell at least some of the story. I very much look forward to reading this!
I agree. They’re so revealing (until you don’t want them to be, then they can be frustratingly secretive!) I use them quite a lot in my writing and love doing so. Good luck with the draw!
You did such a wonderful job with letters in Mistaken – both in making them hilarious or moving and in using them to advance and complicate the plot – that I can’t wait to see what you do with letters here!
Thanks Rachel! I’m delighted you enjoyed Mistaken. I’m sure you’ll enjoy all the stories in this anthology too. Good luck in the draw!
I love Lady Susan! She is so humorous. This Anthology sound as fabulous as the previous ones. Thank you for an incredible giveaway.
Thanks Eva. Christina has certainly put together a great bunch of writers! I hope you enjoy Lady Susan’s Edification
Loved the correspondence! I can’t wait for this book. Thanks for the chance to win so many goodies!
Ah thank you Pam, good luck with the draw!
I love the plan, can’t wait to read the story ☺
I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for commenting
My pleasure, Glynis! It was such a great story and I am thrilled to learn more about Jessie’s experience creating it!
Lady Susan is so intriguing to me. I don’t enough guile in me to tie her shoelaces
Thank you for this post! I always laugh when I read Lady Susan. Now, after reading this post I’m thinking about a modern retelling…how many things would do Lady Susan with Facebook and What’s up!?!?
I would have thought that writing the rational side of Lady Susan would be hard but Jessie makes it sound fun and easy if the short letters/notes are anything to go by. I look forward to reading the full story.
We have a winner for our #RationalCreatures blog tour giveaway!
Congratulations, Schilds.
Thank you to all who participated. (Please claim before November 20 or we will have to draw for another winner…and that would be disappointing for all…except the new winner.) https://www.thequillink.com/blog/rationalcreatures-epic-blog-tour-ends-announces-grandprize-winner