Friends, I have to admit that I bought this book by accident. I saw the words “Love & Friendship” and “Jane Austen” on the page and thought it referred to her juvenilia Love & Freindship. However, this is actually a tongue-in-cheek version of Lady Susan, based on the movie Love & Friendship which was about the novella.

At first, I had high hopes for this book, having enjoyed Lady Susan recently. However, I was very soon disappointed.

Love & Friendship is a retelling of Lady Susan’s story from one of her supporters and seeks to “entirely” vindicate her. However, because the story doesn’t actually retell Lady Susan’s story in a new light, it ended up being disappointing.

Jane Austen fans will probably not enjoy the digs at our favourite authoress, as Lady Susan’s defender has a definite bias against her.

Fans of Lady Susan who wish to see her in a new light will find that despite all the talk, Lady Susan remains the villain of the story.

Readers looking for something as fun as the original might find this version more annoying than witty. There are a couple of good lines about punctuation, but the faux-earnestness of the narrator is so close to sincerity that it feels like a biased account of the situation with none of the fun.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this at all. I started out hopeful about the book, quickly changed my mind to “well, at least it’s worth having an Austen-related book” and by the end of the narrative, decided that the next time I bring books for a book swap, this is definitely in the pile because I don’t think I’ll ever pick it up again and I would hope that the book can find a reader which will actually enjoy it.