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Lady Susan
Lady Susan
Jan 11, 2026 11:58 PM

Author:Jane Austen,Imelda Staunton,Alicia Johnson,Maggie Steed

Lady Susan

BBC Audio presents Lady Susan, Jane Austen's early novel not published until after her death. Widowed Lady Susan is an outrageous flirt and a dreadful mother, constantly controlling and embarrassing the people around her.

When Lady Susan remarries, she attempts to push her daughter into a bleak marriage with a man she despises. Deceit slowly spreads through a series of letters exchanged between Lady Susan, her daughter, friends, family and arch enemies. Will the truth be unravelled in time?

Starring Imelda Staunton, Alicia Johnson and Maggie Steed.

© 2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (p) 2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Reviews

Anti-Social is brutally honest, exceptionally funny and terribly sad - a scything indictment of broken 21st century Britain. I could not put it down.

—— The Secret Barrister

Superb. This hysterically funny and moving memoir of an anti-social behaviour officer is a real eye-opener that hits all the right notes

—— Frankie Boyle

I absolutely loved it. It reads like a novel, has that page turning quality everyone looks for in a good book but it delivers the punch that only true life can - funny obviously but with humanity and warmth for people at the edges of society most in need of our understanding and compassion.

—— Kit de Waal, author of My Name Is Leon

A fascinating insight into a job that stitches together the cracks in compassion in our communities

—— Renni Eddo-Lodge, author of Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

A gruesome and darkly comic insight into the life of a ASB Officer. Think Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt but with more dead bodies (and not just human ones) and an abundance of cat shit. It's a gloriously cynical read but it's also sympathetic and deeply empathetic. Being an ASB Officer comes across as one of those "rotten but somebody's got to do it jobs" and I was glad that in these cases, that that somebody was the author.

—— Kathy Burke

Stories of tragedy and comedy from the social housing frontline . . . Shocking . . . Laugh-out-loud funny. The delivery is punchy and the humour dark - think Irvine Welsh minus the Scottish vernacular . . . The reader is taken from pathos to snort-inducing comedy and back again in just two sentences

—— Express

A funny, thoughtful look into one of the toughest jobs I can imagine.

—— Shappi Khorsandi

A fascinating man with a fascinating story. Get this book. So dark but also funny and well written . . . It's been a real eyeopener reading this book. Poignant and empathetic, caring and silly in a few places. In equal parts devastating and dark and incredibly funny.

—— Nihal Arthanayake

Brilliant. This deserves to be a huge success - funny, sad and heartbreaking

—— Lorraine Kelly

A riveting and brilliantly written memoir . . . There is a human story on every page to make you cry with sorrow, cry with laughter or curl your toes in horror (often all three at once). The result is a potent cocktail of heartbreak and horror; wickedly funny, wearily endearing and absolutely enraging.

—— Caroline Sanderson , Bookseller

Combining snark with sensitivity, Nick's increasing cynicism and depression add an extra dash of gallows humour to situations which are anything but funny.

—— S Magazine, Sunday Express

[An] enjoyable and valuable read that should generate justified appreciation for public servants trying to sort out some of society's more intractable problems.

—— Evening Standard

A really entertaining read.

—— Sanjeev Bhaskar

It's really interesting . . . Really important

—— Naga Munchetty , BBC Breakfast

This story of what it's like to do one of the UK's hardest gigs is a witty page-turner on the one hand, a shocking indictment of austerity on the other. Blackly comic, it will make you rage, weep and laugh out loud - sometimes in the space of a paragraph.

—— Marina O'Loughlin

This is a wonderful book. Full of heart and humour and the genuine care for people going through a hard time runs through it.

—— Nesrine Malik, author of We Need New Stories

This is a fantastic book. You should buy it immediately.

—— Lucy Porter

Extraordinary, fascinating, very moving and very funny

—— Christine Lampard , ITV's Lorraine

Horrifying, funny, important . . . Really great - an insight into another world, in the same vein as This is Going to Hurt and The Secret Barrister.

—— Bookseller, Ones to Watch

Following in the footsteps of Adam Kay and The Secret Barrister, Pettigrew delivers an entertaining and informative account of his career as a much-harassed anti-social behaviour officer. Hilarious and enraging in equal measure, Anti-Social documents a world of obnoxious neighbours and damaged individuals with wit, compassion and righteous anger

—— Waterstones.com

A tremendous read. A year in the life of an Anti-Social Behaviour officer. It's bracing stuff, brilliantly written. Thankfully Nick is a funny writer because it's a bitter pill to swallow at times. Highly recommended.

—— Moose Allain

A pleasantly accessible novel that will be popular with book clubs . . . Keane is a nuanced observer

—— Sunday Times

Full of intrigue, mystery, magic, and history, this is a fascinating read that is hard to put down

—— Buzzfeed

If you love a little supernatural magic and mystery, you will love this clever blend of myth, religion, folklore and reality, as the story draws the reader into the realm of faerie and demon, immersing us in a fantasy world where bliss can be found

—— Living Edge

One of those books which will never let you go. A beautiful, fantastic, ride that travels from one end of the earth to the other and beyond, Knox takes you on a journey that will amaze and astound you . . . The Absolute Book takes readers on a journey they won't soon forget. Fantastic and wondrous, it is a delight and will leave readers wistful for a world as magical as the one she's created

—— Blogcritics

Epic and exquisitely written, this is a feat of fantastical world-building

—— Sunday Express

The dream for any book lover - a story about the importance of stories and all the ways we pass them on

—— Foyles

Where better to get lost than a mighty, make-believe kingdom reminiscent of Swift

—— i

Enchanting . . . Knox hits the mark

—— Herald

A devastating stripping back of the gendered and politicised conditions that shape desire, a revelation of the unnerving ways we are made vulnerable to others in unequal systems. Its crisp, knowing prose is unparalleled, its anger remarkable.

—— Anahit Behrooz , Skinny, *Books of the Year*

Nolan's intelligent, elegant first novel, a gripping portrait of love turned toxic.

—— Daily Telegraph

The star feature of Nolan's narration is her ability to cut through received ideas about women, relationships and even rape. Her headlong, fearless prose, feels like salt wind on cracked lips. You wince and you thrill.

—— Claire Lowdon , Sunday Times

A raw read of vulnerability, desperation, and most definitely a new voice in fiction

—— Chloe Brown , Cosmopolitan

A thrilling read...if you want a visceral, honest, unputdownable summer read then this is it. You'll devour it in a day.

—— Stylist, *Summer Reads of 2022*

A very elegant novel, with coercive control at the core. She has such a strong voice and not a sentence is extraneous

—— Emma Frost, author of BUSY BEING FREE , i

I read this in one go... I found it raw, honest, brutal and real.

—— Lykke Li , Observer

Written with acerbic style and wit, this is an intoxicatingly good look at romantic obsession, delusion and desire.

—— i

Beautifully written…and the short chapters keep things moving at an addictively fast pace. Most importantly, it’s shamelessly real

—— Crack
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