Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel by Jane Austen, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871. This early complete work that the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the main character (the widowed Lady Susan) as she seeks a new husband for herself, and one for her daughter. Although the theme, together with the focus on character study and moral issues, is close to Austen's published work Sense and Sensibility), its outlook is very different, and the heroine has few parallels in 19th-century literature.