What is the name of the heroine in 'Lady Susan'?

The heroine of Jane Austen’s Lady Susan is Lady Susan Vernon. She is the novella’s title character, central correspondent, and principal source of its elaborate schemes.

Lady Susan is a recently widowed woman of about 35 who needs money and security. Beautiful, charming, and highly intelligent, she manipulates the people around her while pursuing advantageous relationships. She also tries to arrange a suitable marriage for her daughter, Frederica, despite treating Frederica with remarkable cruelty.

The work is told mainly through letters, allowing readers to compare Lady Susan’s polished public manner with the frank, calculating letters she sends to her confidante Alicia Johnson. That epistolary structure makes Lady Susan unusually direct and psychologically revealing among Austen’s early works.

Lady Susan was written around 1794 but remained unpublished during Austen’s lifetime. It first appeared in 1871, after Austen’s death, alongside other posthumously published material.