Lady Susan is Austen's last finished work, an epistolary novel of 41 letters (many of them only a few paragraphs long) and a narrated conclusion. I must say I was somewhat disappointed in it, as my high hopes of the beginning did not last long. Like in Mansfield Park, the moralizing here was a bit too strong for my taste. That the titular character is not a woman of flawless character and impeccable behaviour is clear from the very first page, but I was hoping Austen would still make her a somewhat rounded character that one can sympathize with a bit, even if she obviously would end up in a bad place at the end of the novel. I guess that was too much to hope for, as the scheming and flirting scandal-magnet rapidly turns out to be a backstabbing witch and bad mother as well; Austen leaves her no redeeming characteristics, which makes the rest of the novel quite predictable and not very interesting. It is still worth reading for those who like Austen, and short enough that it doesn't have time to drag, but mostly my feeling afterwards is disappointment at the novel it might've been with a bit more subtlety and a bit less moralizing. But then, Austen would not be Austen if she didn't have a clear view of right and wrong, and the morality of her time and society, which allowed redemption for smaller sins, but none for greater ones.