I hadn’t really heard anything about this novel before I got the box set. I had no idea what the book was about though being a Jane Austen book I guessed there was some romantic element to it but that was about it. However after finishing this book in a matter of days I have come to the conclusion that Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen novel.
Persuasion was Jane Austen’s last completed novel and while reading it I thought the story reflected a more mature mindset in the development of her characters and the choice of topic. It is different from your standard Austen novel in that boy meets girl and romance, albeit most of the time highly detoured follows. This story centres around Anne Elliot a 28-year-old women apparently past her prime who gave up her true love Frederick Wentworth after much persuasion from her snooty family and close friends. Now Captain Wentworth has come back into her life and it is killing Anne inside while she keeps this serene facade pasted on the outside.
Anne as a character shows more maturity and reserve. Like Elizabeth Bennett (whom I also love) she has her opinions but unlike her she doesn’t make waves by adding stinging wit to them. She isn’t weak and spineless like Fanny Price and her maturity level is far beyond Emma Woodhouse. Anne has suffered through losing the man she loves and come out of the other side change for better and for worse.
I love this story. Every time Anne and Captain Wentworth are in the same room with each other there is a tension and a longing for someone to make a move, it makes you want to put the book down due to frustration but you have to keep reading on. If you have read Pride and Prejudice there is the part where Elizabeth is playing the piano and Mr Darcy “gazes” at her, the feeling I got when I read that part is the feeling I had throughout most of this book. This story makes me feel hope for the future and believe that there is true, pure romance.