Just Finished Reading: Persuasion by Jane Austen

Now in her late 20’s Anne Elliot is beginning to think that she will remain unmarried. Persuaded at 19 to end her engagement to a man considered to be unsuitable by her family she has little hope for her future prospects. But when her Baronet father falls on hard times and is forced to rent out the family home things begin to change. The new tenant is an Admiral Croft recently returned from the war with France. As her family relocates to Bath, Anne stays behind to care for her sickly married sister and is surprised to hear that the Crofts have a visitor. The man she was to marry all those years ago is back in England, now a famous and wealthy Captain. Anne’s emotions are thrown into turmoil. Will Captain Wentworth remember her? Has he married? If not is there any opportunity to renew their relationship? Will her family consent to such a renewal even if such a thing was possible? Anne must discover what is in Wentworth’s heart before she answer any of these burning questions but how will she do so in polite society without offending her families sensibilities?

Most people I know are surprised that I read and enjoy Jane Austen. As you can tell from the usual books I review here it’s not exactly my normal reading fare. I’ve actually been a huge fan for probably 25 years or more, ever since watching the BBC versions of Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion back in the 80’s. Although it was actually only after we saw the Keira Knightley version of P&P that I picked up and read the copy of the book that had been sitting on my shelf for 30 years (I kid you not). After that I promised myself that I would read all of her books. After all there are only six of them! After the supernova that is P&P – and after basically being in love with Lizzie Bennet all of these years – I’m afraid that I found Persuasion to be not anywhere near as good. No real surprises there I guess. I still loved the language though. Austen does write beautifully crafted books – again not a great surprise after the amount of time and effort she lavished on them.  Inevitably I couldn’t help comparing Anne Elliot and Elizabeth Bennet. Of course Anne came off worse but at the same time she was obviously a strong independently minded woman making her own way through difficult circumstances. I can see that, at the time, she would have been viewed as a rather bold heroine who had decided on a course of action – despite her knowledge of her family’s misgivings – and who plotted that course as best she could given the circumstances she found herself in. She managed to avoid what would have been an unfortunate marriage with a very unsuitable man and, after 8-9 years delay, finally found true love. Although not as feisty, intelligent or as passionate as Miss Bennet, the character of Anne Elliot certainly stands out in this book. She is kinder, less class or position conscious, more open and modern and less hind bound by convention than the majority of people around her. So, whilst I didn’t enjoy this as much as I enjoyed P&P (which is my present benchmark for such things) I did find it eminently readable and not just for the strange looks I got from people who normally see me reading SF. If you are thinking of venturing into classic literature in general or Austen in particular you could be a lot worse than start here.