Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen’s most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne’s family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?
My mother and I are headed to Bath this May. Since Jane Austen is a big deal in Bath, I’ve decided to reread at least a few of her books before we go. I started with Persuasion because I didn’t remember it. It is her last book.
I didn’t find it as readable as Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. The sentence structure was more complex and convoluted. I had to concentrate a lot to figure out what person in the beginning of the sentence she was referring to by the end of the sentence. If this was the first Austen you read, I don’t know that you’d try another.
Since this is Austen I promise that (SPOILER ALERT) – ladies act silly, a poor man makes his fortune, some female gets an illness, and they all live happily ever after.
Haha, I like your summary. This one was never one of my favorites, but it’s pretty fun.