Persuasion: "How quick come the reasons for not approving what we like."

By Jane Austen

Like most of her other novels, Jane Austen’s Persuasion (1818) is an exploration of human relations in a society governed by family bonds, materialism, social hypocrisy and the pressures of persuasion. The story is set in the English city of Bath where the young protagonist, Anne Elliot, lives with her noble and conservative family in their Kellynch Hall estate. At only 19 years old, Anne develops a relationship with the young naval officer Frederick Wentworth and accepts his marriage proposal. However, she is soon persuaded to leave him by her friend Lady Russell. The latter is incited by Anne’s supercilious father and elder sister who think that Wentworth is too poor to be a match for an Elliot. Years later, and after rejecting a number of other suitors, Anne meets her first love again. Wentworth is now a well-off sea captain while Mr. Elliot’s irresponsible spendthrift behavior forces him to rent the family estate. Although Wentworth still bears the bitterness of being jilted by Anne, he gradually starts to regain confidence in her and to discover that she regrets what she has been persuaded to do. By the end of the narrative, the couple is reunited in a highly romantic scene. We’ve also included a concise and informative biography of Jane’s works and life at the end of the book. We hope it helps to give a little context and colour about how her life interacted with her art.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Word To The Wise
• Release date: Aug 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781780006239

Jane Austen

Born in 1775, Jane Austen published four of her six novels anonymously. Her work was not widely read until the late nineteenth century, and her fame grew from then on. Known for her wit and sharp insight into social conventions, her novels about love, relationships, and society are more popular year after year. She has earned a place in history as one of the most cherished writers of English literature.

Book preview

works.

Chapter 1

Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed.  This was the page at which the favorite volume always opened:

"ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH HALL.

Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760, married, July 15, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson, Esq. of South Park, in the county of Gloucester, by which lady (who died 1800) he has issue Elizabeth, born June 1, 1785; Anne, born August 9, 1787; a still-born son, November 5, 1789; Mary, born November 20, 1791.

Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer’s hands; but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, these words, after the date of Mary’s birth—

Married, December 16, 1810, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset, and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he had lost his wife.

Then followed the history and rise of the ancient and respectable family, in the usual terms; how it had been first settled in Cheshire; how mentioned in Dugdale, serving the office of high sheriff, representing a borough in three successive parliaments, exertions of loyalty, and dignity of baronet, in the first year of Charles II, with all the Marys and Elizabeths they had married; forming altogether two handsome duodecimo pages, and concluding with the arms and motto: Principal seat, Kellynch Hall, in the county of Somerset, and Sir Walter’s handwriting again in this finale:

Heir presumptive, William Walter Elliot, Esq., great grandson of the second Sir Walter.

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and of situation.  He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man.  Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did, nor could the valet of any new made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society.  He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.

His good looks and his rank had one fair claim on his attachment; since to them he must have owed a wife of very superior character to any thing deserved by his own.  Lady Elliot had been an excellent woman, sensible and amiable; whose judgement and conduct, if they might be pardoned the youthful infatuation which made her Lady Elliot, had never required indulgence afterwards.—She had humoured, or softened, or concealed his failings, and promoted his real respectability for seventeen years; and though not the very happiest being in the world herself, had found enough in her duties, her friends, and her children, to attach her to life, and make it no matter of indifference to her when she was called on to quit them.

Three girls, the two eldest sixteen and fourteen, was an awful legacy for a mother to bequeath, an awful charge rather, to confide to the authority and guidance of a conceited, silly father.  She had, however, one very intimate friend, a sensible, deserving woman, who had been brought, by strong attachment to herself, to settle close by her, in the village of Kellynch; and on her kindness and advice, Lady Elliot mainly relied for the best help and maintenance of the good principles and instruction which she had been anxiously giving her daughters.

This friend, and Sir Walter, did not marry, whatever might have been anticipated on that head by their acquaintance.  Thirteen years had passed away since Lady Elliot’s death, and they were still near neighbours and intimate friends, and one remained a widower, the other a widow.

That Lady Russell, of steady age and character, and extremely well provided for, should have no thought of a second marriage, needs no apology to the public, which is rather apt to be unreasonably discontented when a woman does marry again, than when she does not; but Sir Walter’s continuing in singleness requires explanation.  Be it known then, that Sir Walter, like a good father, (having met with one or two private disappointments in very unreasonable applications), prided himself on remaining single for his dear daughters’ sake.  For one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up any thing, which he had not been very much tempted to do.  Elizabeth had succeeded, at sixteen, to all that was possible, of her mother’s rights and consequence; and being very handsome, and very like himself, her influence had always been great, and they had gone on together most happily.  His two other children were of very inferior value.

Mary had acquired a little artificial importance, by becoming Mrs Charles Musgrove; but Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister; her word had no weight, her convenience was always to give way— she was only Anne.

To Lady Russell, indeed, she was a most dear and highly valued god-daughter, favourite, and friend.  Lady Russell loved them all; but it was only in Anne that she could fancy the mother to revive again.

A few years before, Anne Elliot had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early; and as even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her, (so totally different were her delicate features and mild dark eyes from his own), there could be nothing in them, now that she was faded and thin, to excite his esteem. He had never indulged much hope, he had now none, of ever reading her name in any other page of his favourite work.  All equality of alliance must rest with Elizabeth, for Mary had merely connected herself with an old country family of respectability and large fortune, and had therefore given all the honour and received none:

Elizabeth would, one day or other, marry suitably.

It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before; and, generally speaking, if there has been neither ill health nor anxiety, it is a time of life at which scarcely any charm is lost.  It was so with Elizabeth, still the same handsome Miss Elliot that she had begun to be thirteen years ago, and Sir Walter might be excused, therefore, in forgetting her age, or, at least, be deemed only half a fool, for thinking himself and Elizabeth as blooming as ever, amidst the wreck of the good looks of everybody else; for he could plainly see how old all the rest of his family and acquaintance were growing.  Anne haggard, Mary coarse, every face in the neighbourhood worsting, and the rapid increase of the crow’s foot about Lady Russell’s temples had long been a distress to him.

Elizabeth did not quite equal her father in personal contentment.  Thirteen years had seen her mistress of Kellynch Hall, presiding and directing with a self-possession and decision which could never have given the idea of her being younger than she was.  For thirteen years had she been doing the honours, and laying down the domestic law at home, and leading the way to the chaise and four, and walking immediately after Lady Russell out of all the drawing-rooms and dining-rooms in the country.  Thirteen winters’ revolving frosts had seen her opening every ball of credit which a scanty neighbourhood afforded, and thirteen springs shewn their blossoms, as she travelled up to London with her father, for a few weeks’ annual enjoyment of the great world.  She had the remembrance of all this, she had the consciousness of being nine-and-twenty to give her some regrets and some apprehensions; she was fully satisfied of being still quite as handsome as ever, but she felt her approach to the years of danger, and would have rejoiced to be certain of being properly solicited by baronet-blood within the next twelvemonth or two.  Then might she again take up the book of books with as much enjoyment as in her early youth, but now she liked it not.  Always to be presented with the date of her own birth and see no marriage follow but that of a youngest sister, made the book an evil; and more than once, when her father had left it open on the table near her, had she closed it, with averted eyes, and pushed it away.

She had had a disappointment, moreover, which that book, and especially the history of her own family, must ever present the remembrance of.  The heir presumptive, the very William Walter Elliot, Esq., whose rights had been so generously supported by her father, had disappointed her.

She had, while a very young girl, as soon as she had known him to be, in the event of her having no brother, the future baronet, meant to marry him, and her father had always meant that she should.  He had not been known to them as a boy; but soon after Lady Elliot’s death, Sir Walter had sought the acquaintance, and though his overtures had not been met with any warmth, he had persevered in seeking it, making allowance for the modest drawing-back of youth; and, in one of their spring excursions to London, when Elizabeth was in her first bloom, Mr Elliot had been forced into the introduction.

He was at that time a very young man, just engaged in the study of the law; and Elizabeth found him extremely agreeable, and every plan in his favour was confirmed.  He was invited to Kellynch Hall; he was talked of and expected all the rest of the year; but he never came.  The following spring he was seen again in town, found equally agreeable, again encouraged, invited, and expected, and again he did not come; and the next tidings were that he was married.  Instead of pushing his fortune in the line marked out for the heir of the house of Elliot, he had purchased independence by uniting himself to a rich woman of inferior birth.

Sir Walter has resented it.  As the head of the house, he felt that he ought to have been consulted, especially after taking the young man so publicly by the hand; For they must have been seen together, he observed, once at Tattersal’s, and twice in the lobby of the House of Commons.  His disapprobation was expressed, but apparently very little regarded.  Mr Elliot had attempted no apology, and shewn himself as unsolicitous of being longer noticed by the family, as Sir Walter considered him unworthy of it:  all acquaintance between them had ceased.

This very awkward history of Mr Elliot was still, after an interval of several years, felt with anger by Elizabeth, who had liked the man for himself, and still more for being her father’s heir, and whose strong family pride could see only in him a proper match for Sir Walter Elliot’s eldest daughter.  There was not a baronet from A to Z whom her feelings could have so willingly acknowledged as an equal.  Yet so miserably had he conducted himself, that though she was at this present time (the summer of 1814) wearing black ribbons for his wife, she could not admit him to be worth thinking of again.  The disgrace of his first marriage might, perhaps, as there was no reason to suppose it perpetuated by offspring, have been got over, had he not done worse; but he had, as by the accustomary intervention of kind friends, they had been informed, spoken most disrespectfully of them all, most slightingly and contemptuously of the very blood he belonged to, and the honours which were hereafter to be his own.  This could not be pardoned.

Such were Elizabeth Elliot’s sentiments and sensations; such the cares to alloy, the agitations to vary, the sameness and the elegance, the prosperity and the nothingness of her scene of life; such the feelings to give interest to a long, uneventful residence in one country circle, to fill the vacancies which there were no habits of utility abroad, no talents or accomplishments for home, to occupy.

But now, another occupation and solicitude of mind was beginning to be added to these.  Her father was growing distressed for money.  She knew, that when he now took up the Baronetage, it was to drive the heavy bills of his tradespeople, and the unwelcome hints of Mr Shepherd, his agent, from his thoughts.  The Kellynch property was good, but not equal to Sir Walter’s apprehension of the state required in its possessor.  While Lady Elliot lived, there had been method, moderation, and economy, which had just kept him within his income; but with her had died all such right-mindedness, and from that period he had been constantly exceeding it.  It had not been possible for him to spend less; he had done nothing but what Sir Walter Elliot was imperiously called on to do; but blameless as he was, he was not only growing dreadfully in debt, but was hearing of it so often, that it became vain to attempt concealing it longer, even partially, from his daughter.  He had given her some hints of it the last spring in town; he had gone so far even as to say, Can we retrench?  Does it occur to you that there is any one article in which we can retrench? and Elizabeth, to do her justice, had, in the first ardour of female alarm, set seriously to think what could be done, and had finally proposed these two branches of economy, to cut off some unnecessary charities, and to refrain from new furnishing the drawing-room; to which expedients she afterwards added the happy thought of their taking no present down to Anne, as had been the usual yearly custom.  But these measures, however good in themselves, were insufficient for the real extent of the evil, the whole of which Sir Walter found himself obliged to confess to her soon afterwards.  Elizabeth had nothing to propose of deeper efficacy.  She felt herself ill-used and unfortunate, as did her father; and they were neither of them able to devise any means of lessening their expenses without compromising their dignity, or relinquishing their comforts in a way not to be borne.

There was only a small part of his estate that Sir Walter could dispose of; but had every acre been alienable, it would have made no difference.  He had condescended to mortgage as far as he had the power, but he would never condescend to sell.  No; he would never disgrace his name so far.  The Kellynch estate should be transmitted whole and entire, as he had received it.

Their two confidential friends, Mr Shepherd, who lived in the neighbouring market town, and Lady Russell, were called to advise them; and both father and daughter seemed to expect that something should be struck out by one or the other to remove their embarrassments and reduce their expenditure, without involving the loss of any indulgence of taste or pride.

Chapter 2

Mr Shepherd, a civil, cautious lawyer, who, whatever might be his hold or his views on Sir Walter, would rather have the disagreeable prompted by anybody else, excused himself from offering the slightest hint, and only begged leave to recommend an implicit reference to the excellent judgement of Lady Russell, from whose known good sense he fully expected to have just such resolute measures advised as he meant to see finally adopted.

Lady Russell was most anxiously zealous on the subject, and gave it much serious consideration.  She was a woman rather of sound than of quick abilities, whose difficulties in coming to any decision in this instance were great, from the opposition of two leading principles.  She was of strict integrity herself, with a delicate sense of honour; but she was as desirous of saving Sir Walter’s feelings, as solicitous for the credit of the family, as aristocratic in her ideas of what was due to them, as anybody of sense and honesty could well be.  She was a benevolent, charitable, good woman, and capable of strong attachments, most correct in her conduct, strict in her notions of decorum, and with manners that were held a standard of good-breeding.  She had a cultivated mind, and was, generally speaking, rational and consistent; but she had prejudices on the side of ancestry; she had a value for rank and consequence, which blinded her a little to the faults of those who possessed them.  Herself the widow of only a knight, she gave the dignity of a baronet all its due; and Sir Walter, independent of his claims as an old acquaintance, an attentive neighbour, an obliging landlord, the husband of her very dear friend, the father of Anne and her sisters, was, as being Sir Walter, in her apprehension, entitled to a great deal of compassion and consideration under his present difficulties.

They must retrench; that did not admit of a doubt.  But she was very anxious to have it done with the least possible pain to him and Elizabeth. She drew up plans of economy, she made exact calculations, and she did what nobody else thought of doing:  she consulted Anne, who never seemed considered by the others as having any interest in the question. She consulted, and in a degree was influenced by her in marking out the scheme of retrenchment which was at last submitted to Sir Walter. Every emendation of Anne’s had been on the side of honesty against importance.  She wanted more vigorous measures, a more complete reformation, a quicker release from debt, a much higher tone of indifference for everything but justice and equity.

If we can persuade your father to all this, said Lady Russell, looking over her paper, much may be done.  If he will adopt these regulations, in seven years he will be clear; and I hope we may be able to convince him and Elizabeth, that Kellynch Hall has a respectability in itself which cannot be affected by these reductions; and that the true dignity of Sir Walter Elliot will be very far from lessened in the eyes of sensible people, by acting like a man of principle.  What will he be doing, in fact, but what very many of our first families have done, or ought to do?  There will be nothing singular in his case; and it is singularity which often makes the worst part of our suffering, as it always does of our conduct.  I have great hope of prevailing.  We must be serious and decided; for after all, the person who has contracted debts must pay them; and though a great deal is due to the feelings of the gentleman, and the head of a house, like your father, there is still more due to the character of an honest man.

This was the principle on which Anne wanted her father to be proceeding, his friends to be urging him.  She considered it as an act of indispensable duty to clear away the claims of creditors with all the expedition which the most comprehensive retrenchments could secure, and saw no dignity in anything short of it.  She wanted it to be prescribed, and felt as a duty.  She rated Lady Russell’s influence highly; and as to the severe degree of self-denial which her own conscience prompted, she believed there might be little more difficulty in persuading them to a complete, than to half a reformation.  Her knowledge of her father and Elizabeth inclined her to think that the sacrifice of one pair of horses would be hardly less painful than of both, and so on, through the whole list of Lady Russell’s too gentle reductions.

How Anne’s more rigid requisitions might have been taken is of little consequence.  Lady Russell’s had no success at all: could not be put up with, were not to be borne. What! every comfort of life knocked off!  Journeys, London, servants, horses, table— contractions and restrictions every where!  To live no longer with the decencies even of a private gentleman!  No, he would sooner quit Kellynch Hall at once, than remain in it on such disgraceful terms.

Quit Kellynch Hall.  The hint was immediately taken up by Mr Shepherd, whose interest was involved in the reality of Sir Walter’s retrenching, and who was perfectly persuaded that nothing would be done without a change of abode.  Since the idea had been started in the very quarter which ought to dictate, he had no scruple, he said, in confessing his judgement to be entirely on that side.  It did not appear to him that Sir Walter could materially alter his style of living in a house which had such a character of hospitality and ancient dignity to support.  In any other place Sir Walter might judge for himself; and would be looked up to, as regulating the modes of life in whatever way he might choose to model his household.

Sir Walter would quit Kellynch Hall; and after a very few days more of doubt and indecision, the great question of whither he should go was settled, and the first outline of this important change made out.

There had been three alternatives, London, Bath, or another house in the country.  All Anne’s wishes had been for the latter.  A small house in their own neighbourhood, where they might still have Lady Russell’s society, still be near Mary, and still have the pleasure of sometimes seeing the lawns and groves of Kellynch, was the object of her ambition.  But the usual fate of Anne attended her, in having something very opposite from her inclination fixed on.  She disliked Bath, and did not think it agreed with her; and Bath was to be her home.

Sir Walter had at first thought more of London; but Mr Shepherd felt that he could not be trusted in London, and had been skillful enough to dissuade him from it, and make Bath preferred.  It was a much safer place for a gentleman in his predicament:  he might there be important at comparatively little expense.  Two material advantages of Bath over London had of course been given all their weight:  its more convenient distance from Kellynch, only fifty miles, and Lady Russell’s spending some part of every winter there; and to the very great satisfaction of Lady Russell, whose first views on the projected change had been for Bath, Sir Walter and Elizabeth were induced to believe that they should lose neither consequence nor enjoyment by settling there.

Lady Russell felt obliged to oppose her dear Anne’s known wishes.  It would be too much to expect Sir Walter to descend into a small house in his own neighbourhood.  Anne herself would have found the mortifications of it more than she foresaw, and to Sir Walter’s feelings they must have been dreadful.  And with regard to Anne’s dislike of Bath, she considered it as a prejudice and mistake arising, first, from the circumstance of her having been three years at school there, after her mother’s death; and secondly, from her happening to be not in perfectly good spirits the only winter which she had afterwards spent there with herself.

Lady Russell was fond of Bath, in short, and disposed to think it must suit them all; and as to her young friend’s health, by passing all the warm months with her at Kellynch Lodge, every danger would be avoided; and it was in fact, a change which must do both health and spirits good.  Anne had been too little from home, too little seen. Her spirits were not high.  A larger society would improve them.  She wanted her to be more known.

The undesirableness of any other house in the same neighbourhood for Sir Walter was certainly much strengthened by one part, and a very material part of the scheme, which had been happily engrafted on the beginning.  He was not only to quit his home, but to see it in the hands of others; a trial of fortitude, which stronger heads than Sir Walter’s have found too much.  Kellynch Hall was to be let.  This, however, was a profound secret, not to be breathed beyond their own circle.

Sir Walter could not have borne the degradation of being known to design letting his house.  Mr Shepherd had once mentioned the word advertise, but never dared approach it again.  Sir Walter spurned the idea of its being offered in any manner; forbad the slightest hint being dropped of his having such an intention; and it was only on the supposition of his being spontaneously solicited by some most unexceptionable applicant, on his own terms, and as a great favour, that he would let it at all.

How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!  Lady Russell had another excellent one at hand, for being

Reviews for Persuasion

[underthebookpile · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Persuasion is a classic, and a charming one! It follows twenty-something Anne as she navigates the path to almost certain spinsterhood. She had a love once, but gave it up due to the expectations of her family and their certainty she could get a "better match." Fast forward: she didn't. But...she might have a second chance.Anne's "late in life" (for the time period) love story is the main plot driver in the book, however my favorite part was her observations, and the comments of, her family and friends. The book is quite savage toward the stuffy upper crust and it was actually laugh out loud funny at parts. It is partially set in Bath, England, where Austen did live, and I think a lot of the author's own feelings toward the people around her were coming out here in a thinly veiled way. Great, short read!

[kimkimpton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book so much more on my second read. In my opinion, it still doesn't beat Pride and Prejudice, but it it a good one!

[jonfaith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When Louisa stumbled, I sighed and, yet, continued through the remainder of the book. I knew that Mr. Scott would be unmasked and that all would be well. The flimsy layers did trouble me greatly. I don't know whether it is national chauvinism or some maudlin coddling but how is it that most consider Austen to be superior to Balzac?

On a personal level, this was likely the only book given to me by the mother of a woman I was seeing.

[sandra.pinkerton83 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely and fun book of Victorian era.

[mhanover10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As an audiobook I found I enjoyed this more than Little Women.

[humouress · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my, possibly my absolute, favourites of Jane Austen's major works (I've not managed to read everything, yet...) It's not the wittiest, I think, though the humour is very much in evidence, but it's the sweetest romance.Anne Elliot, having fallen in love as a young woman, but having dutifully declined a proposal of marriage, lives with her older sister, Elizabeth, and father, the baronet Sir Elliot at Kellynch Hall. Unlike Anne, they are very vain about their place in the peerage, but are careless about the duties of a landowner. Her younger sister, Mary, is married into the Musgrove family, and is also proud of the notice due to an Elliot of Kellynch Hall. When the Elliots decide to move to Bath, Anne stays first with her sister Mary and the Musgroves, and then continues on to Bath. At both these places, she finds herself thrown into company with the man she still loves. Her feelings for him have not changed, but he - now a man of fortune - is no longer interested in her. How will Anne find the happiness in life that she so richly deserves?I do like this book, mainly, as I said, for the romance. But I like the comfortable family life portrayed in this Austen, which, offhand, I don't think we get in any of her other books. The Musgroves senior and the Crofts enjoy life, and are happiest when they have lots of other people around them who enjoy life, too.Although Anne is neglected by her own family, her friends see her value, and she is not as timid or put-upon as Fanny, of Mansfield Park. As a heroine, she has a quiet, purposeful dignity.And I think, of all the Austens I've read, this has the happiest ending.

[stewartry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I say this a lot, but it's been a very long time since I read Persuasion. I know the movie (Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root, the only one worth watching) very very well, and it was a pure joy to be reminded of how utterly and beautifully faithful it is to the book, and another joy to be reminded of all of the elements that did not make it into the film. Karen Savage's reading was lovely and just enhanced my enjoyment of the story.Sparing Goodreads my ponderings on the Defense of Frederick and Why I Hate Lady Russell; they can be found on my blog.

[danielstj · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I don't get all the literary aplomb about this book. I didn't find it to be anything special.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thematisch grotendeels een doorslagje van de andere romans, vooral inzake emoties en afloop. Thema van de persuasion overheerst niet echt, zo wordt niet goed uitgewerkt waarom Anne Wentworth indertijd afwees. Wel weer mooie society-inkijk. Ook stilistisch zeer sterk vooral in de groepsdynamica en de introspectie in de wereld van Anne (dikwijls ook geluid en blik).

[annepowell-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite Austen

[laurencita_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nice to revisit.

[antao-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

(Original Review, 1981-02-25)I think it's evident, once one steps back from an emotional response to the novel, that it would have benefited from some editing and expanding by Austen, had she lived.I can see the flaws in it. It seems disjointed and overly episodic, and I think the excursion to Lyme is a bit forced into the narrative although I believe it’s essential to the novel. The trip to Lyme is essential: the flirtation between Wentworth and Louisa comes to a crash, he can see Anne's steadiness, and we can see her lack of romantic desperation—her grit in the teeth, not of poverty (bad enough), but of loneliness—… and it's all by the sea, place of both voyage and anchorage. On reflection I've found the Mrs. Smith episode slightly unbelievable as well - not in the sense that Anne wouldn't visit her now that she's fallen on hard times, but that she would so serendipitously know all about Anne's scheming suitor (a scene or two of Mrs. Smith, where she and Anne could have some interaction beyond her being an information booth, might've been flesh rather than padding.) Wentworth's letter to Anne, on the other hand. . . what a sublime piece of literature, all on its own; I have to admit also that I felt a bit of a hot flush myself on reading Wentworth's letter to Anne... If I'm in the right frame of mind, I can actually get palpitations reading it :-).I think Austen herself found the ending problematic. She rewrote it at least once--originally, the concluding chapters were fewer and shorter, and the denouement was to have occurred when Anne and Wentworth accidentally end up alone together at her father's house, and explanations ensue. I think what we have now is at least better than that.This theme of a love from the past that recurs over and over and over again in literature, especially from or set in this period, is completely alien to me. I accept that everyone's experience is individual, but I've never had an unrequited love and whenever I've met any of my partners from my youth, even the best ones, I've never felt much in the way of regret, let alone proclaimed: "they must be mine again!"I do like the idea of two people who were "in love" having to come to terms with dealing with each other now. But I've never liked this (or any) of these pop culture memes that make teenage sensations the epitome of human existence and experience! Don't get me wrong, I like romance and I see how themes of escapism can be explored and how a dynamic contrast can be useful in a narrative, but still, find it so weird. It's pretty normal to think of missed opportunities in terms of second chances, not just in romance (in this, you confess to being unusually well-adjusted to your own past), but in education, business, friendship, family connections, and so on. In this case, it might seem a bit Hollywood, that the couple, well-matched when one is convinced to reject the other, are even more perfectly suited after he gets rich and she finds even lonely toil preferable to any other suitor. You sometimes see this criticism of Shakespeare's comedies: so much turmoil results, with a bit of happy accident, in the first day of a happy marriage. But that sense of 'comedy' is a vision of life, of fertility and regeneration, that coexists (for many) alongside the grime and sleaze and villainy that Shakespeare exults weirdly in, and that Austen shows menacing from first page (Sir Walter's stupid vanity) to nearly the last (William Elliot's… well, read it and see).It's not that 'comedy', in the sense of romantic happy endings, is Hollywood, but rather, that 'Hollywood' is mutilation and degradation, a bastardization, of a human instinct for fecundity, even as tragedy is confrontation with the limits of health and strength.It seemed that for the first half of the book not a lot happens other than people moving house, or "popping round for a chat." When Louisa abruptly jumps off the wall and lands on her noggin, the interest perked up a bit, particularly as she seemed to be dead - then it turned out she's just got a concussion. For me, it wasn't until Anne finds out the truth about her cousin from Mrs. Smith that the tension you describe really began for me - then the whole underlying tension between her and Wentworth really starts to go from simmering to boiling.

[phoibee-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did not like it at first but as the story unravels, I find it good. I don't know why I read the theme of unrequited love nowadays lol. But this book is a Jane Austen's novel so I know it will have a happy ending, and it did.

Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth were parted for eight and a half years but they still have feelings for each other. It was just acted upon the last two chapters of the book. It is because during the past years, Anne was persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that Wentworth was not worthy of her so she declined his marriage proposal.

This is my most favorite part:

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means
as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony,
half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings
are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart
even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years
and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman,
that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.
Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been,
but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath.
For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this?
Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even
these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write..."

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Originally published in 1817, Persuasion by Jane Austen is a delightful piece of literature that I certainly enjoyed and appreciated much more today than when I first read the story in high school. This time around I listened to an audio version read by Juliet Stevenson and her excellent reading made the story come alive for me.Jane Austen had the remarkable ability to write about the manners and mores of her time with lightness and humor while, at the same time, giving her readers a romance that would live on in their memory. I found the quiet yearning and sad regrets of Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth gave the story a great deal of passion. Of course the rest of the Elliot family were true horrors, but served as comic relief, especially Anne’s whining sister Mary, a dreadful person but such fun to read about. This story of two people who encounter each other eight years after their engagement was broken is another brilliant satire by an author who excels in poking fun at the pompous and vain while giving us an insight into the interaction between men and women in the 18th century. I am very happy that I decided to re-read this book.

[beckakw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the first Austen book I read and so I didn't have too many expectations going into it. I had heard that Persuasion was one book of Austen's that does not get the hype it deserves. I'm not sure I agree with that. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. As it is a romance novel I was hoping for a bit more... I don't know, romance? Nothing really progressed between Wentworth and Anne until the last 100ish pages. However, Austen is so witty and I absolutely enjoyed the interactions between pretty much all the characters.

[readandfindout · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars. I think that this would have been a 3 star read if not for Austen's writing style, but I just love Austen's style so much. I didn't care too much about the characters or plot or anything, but I still found it enjoyable. There were several clever comments made about the disadvantages experienced by women in this time that I appreciated so much. Also, the satire regarding the vanity of Anne's family was hysterical.

[beabatllori · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 really. I don't know what to make of this one. I know it's usually regarded as Austen's most mature novel. Sure, the main character is 28 and there's lots of autumnal references, as well as political symbolism - but I didn't find it all that deep and full-fleshed.

It's the story of Anne Elliot, a gentleman's daughter who had become engaged to a captain Wentworth 8 years before the novel begins, but broke the engagement due to family pressures. She has never stopped loving him, and now she encounters him again and hopes that he will still have feelings for her.

Now, as I see it, there's two ways one can take this premise. One, you can explore how these two people have changed. Are they still the people they fell in love with in the first place? Will they still love each other, and if so, will it be for the same reasons? Two, you can use the tension created by this background to write an otherwise standard romance, which is what happens here. The result is a succesion of scenes along the lines of "OMG, he found me a place in the carriage so I won't have to walk home - he LUUUUUUVS me!".

Of course, this is all superbly written, and the book is by no means an average romance, but it's still a pretty conventional one. Which would be fine, if it wasn't full of hints dropped to remind the reader that this oh-so-mature and more adult and complex than, say, Pride and Prejudice. It probably is, but Pride and Prejudice works much better as a comedy of manners than Persuasion does as a character study.

[nalis7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jane Austen does romance like nobody else. The tension and the anticipation, drawn out for a novel's worth, perfectly balances the convention of her day with the impatience of the modern reader. Jane Austen is the only author of her day that does not try my patience. And she's one of the few who don't mess up a good romance with embarrassment. This, of all Jane Austen's books, is the one I find the most influenced from her life. And it is for that more that the story that I liked the novel. On the pages of the book I found myself more rooting for a scenario where Jane was thrust into society with the man she had wanted to marry but was not of influence enough to be accepted with the tables now turned and her in every position to say yes. I wanted Jane to relive her life as a small part of her did on the pages of her novel.

Of all the characters in the book Ann was the only likable one and while it would have been better for her if Captain Wentworth had saved her from her selfish family 8 years prior, late is better than never. The interactions full of blushes and meaning had me wanting to shake both of them to swallow their pride and take the first step. It's hard once you've been rejected, had your heart broken, to admit to being vulnerable again, but they were obviously both miserable with just the thought of each other and if they missed connecting with their love this time around, they wouldn't have the meddling of other to blame.

Which brings me to the statements about society Austen made. Two kind souls perfect for each other are torn about because circumstance is not favorable. To make the statement that money and position are not good judges of character, Austen surrounds Anne with characters one more deplorable than the next: a father spending his family into bankruptcy, a cold emotionally void sister, a selfish competitive sister who whines until things fall in her favor, silly cousins, a gold digger, a power/money hungry man who cares not who he ruins in his climb. And these are the people who are supposed to be good blood and therefore good people. But we all know riches more often than not buy spoiled self-centered shallow personalities, not better ones. I wanted to despise the characters more than Austen allowed because they are presented through the eyes of a loving relative.

And then we get to the topic of persuasion itself. Modern society cares not for the influence of the elderly nor the advice it imparts, but throughout history and other cultures, the elder reign with too much power. There must be a happy median where one listens to the counsel of those who have lived through it and respects older generations without letting such opinions stand supreme. Nobody makes decisions for one's life better than that person and all well-meaning meddling should be taken and considered, but not let it overpower ones own persuasion. When one makes decisions to please others and not with the best at heart, it is the wrong decision. It's not even just a young/old problem. It's a personality issue too where the shy or insecure let the out-spoken run their lives for them because it's easy to go along than fight sometimes. I say if you get what you want too easily from someone, be careful because it's not given whole-heartedly and your tactics may come back to hurt you in unexpected ways when that person finally breaks. I suppose I related more to Anne than I initially realized.

There are a few parts that dragged just slightly but overall I once again loved Jane Austen's work. Although I enjoyed this one more for the picture it gave me into Austen's mind and soul than for the story itself, the story is good too.

[ishanella · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Persuasion is the last complete novel of Jane Austen. It’s the story of Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth and the misunderstandings that lead to their happily ever after. Anne and Frederick were to be engaged to be married when Lady Russel persuaded Anne that she could do better. Frederick went off to be a seaman and came back a rich. As he and Anne are re-introduced the interaction between become comically tense.

In true Jane Austen style, Persuasion touches a number of characters in Anne and Fredrick’s circles and deals with a lot of interconnected relationships. However, this was one book that I found a little on the slow side, I absolutely loved the story, I just wished it got to the ending a bit quicker - and preferably less of the Musgroves and Anne’s father and older sister.

Pacing aside, I found Persuasion to be an charming read (or in my case, listen) and a bit of a comedy of errors when it comes to Anne and Fredrick. Jane Austen fans will enjoy.

[jjaylynny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many things to love-- the meditation on the differences between men and women's feelings, the achingly wonderful letter written by Captain Wentworth to Anne, the self-possession of Austen's heroine. I admit that though many intelligent readers count Persuasion as their favorite Austen, I'm just a superficial sucker for Pride and Prejudice and Lizzie Bennett. Though Captain Wentworth, an emotional man, might be a better man than late-to-evolve Mr. Darcy.

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite of all of Jane Austen's books, and Ann Eliot is my favorite - and probably most believable - of Austen's heroines. I just have to cheer when she foils her silly, snobbish father and waltzes off with the now-rich Captain Wentworth.. This book is a gem in every way.

[missjomarch · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a good read but I didn't like it as we'll as Pride and Prejudice. A nice romance between Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth, their lost love and journey back to each other. Falling in love with reading is made easy when Jane Austen has written the book.

[teaswirls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While I love Jane Austen and her characters I'm at a stage where I want to be so much more invigorated by a book and I just cannot (to use an awful phrase) "get into" this kind of novel at the moment. Time to spend a while reading other genres and then come back to these. Ahhh, feels good to say that and not feel guilty.

[amandamay83 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I tried to read this book, really I did. We read it for my book club and it came highly recommended by a woman whose taste in books I share. I wanted to like this book. But a month later, and I'm still only 38% done with what is a very thin book.

It's puzzling to me...I like the story line. I like the characters. But something about the writing... I just can't make myself finish it. It's a slow read. It's not something I can sit down with and relax at the end of the day. It takes a level of focus that I am apparently incapable of. Reading it just felt way too much like high school.

I appologize to all the Austen fans, but I just can't do it.

[jenneb_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reread because I ran out of things to read and was looking for free ebooks.
A few things:
1) nobody writes annoying people as well as Jane Austen.
2) so, many, commas,
3) OMG Captain Wentworth's letter. I. DIE.

[alcracka · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was actually thinking about going for three Austen books, 'cause I dug Pride & Prejudice so much, but when I got into Persuasion I realized there are an awful lot of familiar elements. The well-mannered guy can't be trusted, the shy, dickish guy can, the heroine's the most perceptive character in the book, her family is near-fatally mortifying...if this is just what Austen does, that's fine, but it means one should maybe not read her books back-to-back.

Anne Elliott is a great character, though. More complicated than Elizabeth. She, like this book, is a little ambiguous. Even the novel's theme, laid out in the title, is a slippery one; Anne herself seems unable to come to terms with it, concluding - maybe half-heartedly and a little defensively - that one ought to be persuaded by one's elders instead of one's heart, because if they turn out to be wrong one might get a second chance eight years later. It's possible that I read that defensiveness in myself because I want to like Anne more than that; as it stands, that moral is an awfully conservative one, and one that doesn't sit well with me.

The version my wife had on hand, which she hates so much that this is still the only Austen book she's never read, is the Longman Cultural Edition, which comes, Norton-style, with about a hundred pages of supporting material. Some of that was terrific; I loved reading Austen's letters, chosen (wisely) from when she was Anne's age, not from the period in which she actually wrote the book. Unsurprisingly, they sound just like her books: funny and charming. It's particularly neat to read her account of a ball, and her own very recognizable trepidation and elation at being asked to dance (or not). Some of the contextual reading is also nice, including some well-chosen passages from Byron. The contemporary reviews weren't nearly as interesting as I'd hoped; they focus on her recent and posthumous identification as the author, rather than on the book, which sounds cool but turns out to sorta not be. I hated the introduction - too many big words, not enough thought - and the footnotes were superfluous. I'm not under the impression that Austen requires footnotes. Four stars for the edition.

[varwenea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Persuasion, Jane Austen’s last completed novel, takes the reader to a later time, both in the age of her heroine - Anne Elliot, and in the reflection of the British era. The ‘older’ age of Anne at 27 is a gift to herself and those around her, wishing them a chance for a second spring and perhaps a second love. In the book, references to “destroyed her youth and bloom” and “lost her bloom” peppered Anne and other women. As for the British era, there is a recognition of wealth beyond old money, that the rise of the nouveau riche, such as those from the Navy, was upon the barons and the ‘titled’. The old money mocks at the coarseness of the new, and yet the old money (literally) does not last forever either, spending irresponsibly (such as Anne’s father, Sir Walter) and the necessity of putting up a front (such as renting out their estate and not being able to throw a dinner party as the insufficient number of servants would reveal their true situation). While the book explores thematically, the concept of being persuaded and the act of persuading, it was Jane’s brother who chose the title ‘Persuasion’, after Jane’s untimely death at the age of 41 in August 1817. Jane had indeed expressed concerns over the limitations offered to women, and the fact that women are persuaded to make decision as opposed to deciding for themselves. Jane was a pioneer feminist of her times. Bravo! When the novel begin, the sweet, young 19 year old Anne had broken off her engagement from an up-and-coming, ambitious young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth – after being persuaded by her father, sister, and most importantly, her friend and mother-figure, Lady Russell. Eight and a half years later, the now Captain Wentworth (and wealthy) is back in Anne’s circle. The two, through coincidences, misconnections and reconnections, find their way back to each other. For both, their love for each other had been constant – and it is this constancy theme that finally ignited Wentworth to the possibility that Anne’s love for him still existed. I was but only 30 pages into the book that I declared I like Anne. Kind, observant, smart, learned, thoughtful, eloquent, willing to assist, pretty but coy/shy, values friendship, natural born leader, loved by those around her even if neglected and used by her own kin, and perseveres through situations that were unkind to her. (Perhaps because these are traits I value for myself.) Jane created a quiet heroine who accepts her place in the world, but is smart enough to work within these confines and achieves what she desires nonetheless, such as visiting an old school friend who have fallen on hard times even though her father disapproves of Anne going to her undesirable neighborhood, and ultimately choosing her love. Her virtue with her friend was unexpectedly rewarded when this same friend revealed important information about a cousin’s past. Persuasion had initially felt a little monotone to me, as I waited (impatiently) for the inevitable to happen (love reunited). But in retrospect, I pleasured over Jane’s delicious ‘old English’ writings, Anne’s journey to love that is mature and refined, and Anne as a ‘person’. This is a book that either you will love or it’s meh. Some quotes:I love this sentence in a paragraph where Anne concludes that just because her own household is overwhelmed with the renting of Kellynch Hall and moving to Bath, nobody else cares (or gives a rip):“… she believed that she must now submit to feel that another lesson, in the art of knowing our own nothingness beyond our own circle, was become necessary for her…” The practical purpose of marriage – in finding the right woman. Oddly, I find this rather logical:“… Anne could believe, with Lady Russell, that a more equal match might have greatly improved him; and that a woman of real understanding might have given more consequence to his character, and more usefulness, rationality, and elegance to his habits and pursuits. As it was he did nothing with much zeal, but sport; and his time was otherwise trifled away, without benefit from books, or anything else…”Admiration from a passing gentleman – checking out Anne – in old English style:“… Anne’s face caught his eye, and he looked at her with a degree of earnest admiration which she could not be insensible of. She was looking remarkably well; her very regular, very pretty features, having the bloom and freshness of youth restored by the fine wind which had been blowing on her complexion, and by the animation of eye which it had also produced. It was evident that the gentleman (completely a gentleman in manner), admired her exceedingly.”More delightful old English language treats:Polite (=useless) chatting = “…neither of them, probably, much the wiser for what they heard…”Walking in the rain = “… ‘But it rains.’ ‘Oh! Very little. Nothing that I regard.’…”Coming back late = “He came in with eagerness, appeared to see and think only of her, apologized for his stay, was grieved to have kept her waiting…”Anne briefly lamented over not having the same warmth from her family than from others. I’ve always found it a touch sad that one finds more ‘family’ from friends than their own family:“… It was a heartiness, and a warmth, and sincerity which Anne delighted in the more from the sad want of such blessings at home…”The sweet Anne, finding her love at last – this sentence was simply charming:“Anne was tenderness itself, and she had the full worth of it in Captain Wentworth’s affection.”Last but not least – the Pièce de résistance:Captain Wentworth presents Anne with this letter, hastily written but flooded with his love. Any woman will swoon with these words, even if it means waiting eight and a half years.~~My love – Can I persuade you to return to me after eight and a half years when your affairs are settled?~~“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan. – Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? – I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. – Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most deviating in… FWI must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look will be enough to decide whether I enter your father’s house this evening.”

[hopingforchange · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's no Pride and Prejudice, but it's good. I have a hard time connecting emotionally to Ann Elliot. I feel like she is a little less present in the text than, let's say, Elizabeth Bennett. She just lacks personality, and, somehow, Austen never lets us into the work. I don't know how else to explain it. The novel is guarded. And, while we get some social commentary, especially surrounding Charlotte and the Baronet, it is trite and obvious. We are missing the cutting remarks and lovely verbal play that distinguish so many of Austen's other works. The novel just leaves me wanting more.

[jedijane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I suppose its because it was my A-level English text almost 20 years ago, but Persuasion still remains my favourite Austen novel. It is Austen at her extremely respectuful, almost apologetic, yet satirical best. Indeed, rather than point her acerbic wit in the direction of the characters, Austen allows them to speak for themselves and thus expose themselves. In short, Persuasion is a brilliant novel and even with its condundrum over which one is its preferred ending, it succeeds in capturing the essence and contradictions of the Regency Period.

[luli81_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I knew the story by heart, but I enjoyed it still. Anne Elliot is a quiet heroine, good hearted and influenceable, until she realises that she has to fight for what she wants, even if some close people disapprove of her choices.In my opinion, the story comes to a climax in the last pages, when Anne reads Captain Wentworth's letter. That is one of the most romantic declarations I have ever seen.A good reading, light, short and touching.A word for the BBC Adaptation, which is really faithful and has great images of Bath.Perfect for Austen fans.