Persuasion by Jane Austen

 

Persuasion by Jane Austen.

This edition published 3rd November 2011 by Penguin. Originally published 1817.

From the cover of the book:

At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What happens when they encounter each other again is movingly told in Jane Austen's last completed novel. 

Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, but, above all, it is a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities.

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As much as I love Pride and Prejudice, my favourite of all Jane Austen's works will always be Persuasion. For the uninitiated, it tells the story of Anne Elliot, the second daughter of baronet Sir William Elliot - a proud, conceited, spendthrift of a man, who has no real affection for his daughters beyond the eldest, Elizabeth, who is most like him in disposition. 

When we meet the family, middle daughter Anne is now twenty-seven, and valued little by her father and elder sister, even though she has qualities far above their comprehension. Eight years ago, she was courted by the dashing Captain Frederick Wentworth, but was persuaded to break her engagement by her late mother's dearest friend, Lady Russell, on whose advice she relies - a decision she has come to regret in the years that have followed, as he remains her one true love.

Sir Walter is now embarrassed financially, something he and Elizabeth seem unable to remedy given their reliance on status. The solution finally accepted by them is to let the family seat Kellynch Hall to one Admiral Croft and his wife, and remove themselves to Bath for the duration, where they can lord it about in style for a fraction of the cost - and where they subsequently reconnect with the estranged heir to the title, William Elliot, who is now widowed and the potential marital target of attractive, but aging, Elizabeth.

Meanwhile, Anne is sent to be of use to youngest sister Mary, while Elizabeth takes widow Penelope Clay, the daughter of Sir Walter's agent, with her as her companion (a woman with plans which Elizabeth seems oblivious to). Mary has married into the jolly Musgrove family in near-by Uppercross, and Anne will be staying with her before travelling to Bath at the convenience of Lady Russell. Mary possesses rather too much of the Elliot pride, which is out of keeping with her position as wife of the eldest son of the squire, amiable Charles Musgrove, and is peevish to boot. But Anne is fond of the warmth of the Musgrove family and their easy manners, and it is what happens at Uppercross that directs the course of the story - for who should be the brother of Admiral Croft's wife Sophie, but the very Captain Wentworth who captured Anne's heart in her youth. 

Wentworth's budding friendship with Charles Musgrove brings Anne back into his circle, and what follows is one of Austen's finest romances, but not before it goes all around the byways of Uppercross, the Cobb at Lyme Regis, and the the streets and salons of Bath, with flirtations, misunderstandings, a fateful accident, an acknowledgment of true feelings, and the finest love letter of all time. The characters are among my favourites of all Austen's books, there is plenty of her satirical eye in evidence, lots of gentle comedy, and dissection of Regency society in that way she does so well.

I have read this book over and over again, and it never fails to disappoint. One of the interesting things about it is that even though I know the story so well, there is always something new to admire in Austen's writing, and the subtle way she explores her themes. Yes, this is about persuasion, which you begin to notice more and more in the stories of other characters beyond Anne and Wentworth with each reading, but it beautifully showcases the effects of pride, vanity, folly, and nefarious scheming beneath an appearance of good manners in Regency society too. I do not think I have read a finer story about constancy, and enduring love either.

This is my latest revisit to the work of Austen after first rereading the marvellous Pride and Prejudice in December. As 2025 is the 250th anniversary of her birth, I will be taking in all her books again this year for the sheer pleasure of it - via the audio books. The charming narrations of Juliet Stevenson have kept me company for through Persuasion, and she will be by narrator of choice for my next reread as well, which will be Mansfield Park. Utter bliss!

Persuasion is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Jane Austen, the daughter of a clergyman, was born in Hampshire in 1775, and later lived in Bath and the village of Chawton. As a child and teenager, she wrote brilliantly witty stories for her family's amusement, as well as a novella, Lady Susan. 

Her first published novel was Sense and Sensibility, which appeared in 1811 and was soon followed by Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. 

Austen died in 1817, and Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1818.