Persuasion (by Jane Austen)

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It's been a while since I read any books by Jane Austen, and not far off two decades since I last read ‘Persuasion’. But it was chosen for this month’s local book group, after a request for a classic novel, and I read it on my Kindle.

I knew the story, more-or-less, helped by having seen a BBC film production of it in 2019. But as ever, I’d forgotten most of the detail. And, with Jane Austen, there’s a lot of detail! Indeed, I wondered what I had let myself in for as I read the first chapter; it’s long-winded, and really says very little other than that the heroine - Anne Elliot - lost her mother some years ago, has an older sister called Elizabeth and a younger one called Mary, who is married. She also has an extremely snobbish father.

The writer in me is impressed by the way Austen ‘shows’ rather than ‘telling’. It’s typical of her era (she wrote the book in 1815-1816) that her descriptions give not just a vague idea of what a character looks like, but shows them in a typical attitude. In this case. Anne’s father is perusing his favourite book, one that lists all the aristocracy, of which he is (in his mind, anyway) a significant member.

On the other hand, it’s very wordy… coming to the book after such a long period (and after having seen the films more recently) I did wonder just what I was getting into and whether I would manage to wade through in time for the meeting. However, I gradually became caught up in the story, so that the wordiness was no longer distracting.

Anne is a likeable heroine; she’s kind, unassuming, and - which gives the book its title - very persuadable. We soon learn that she broke an engagement eight years earlier to a young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth. Her father and sister didn’t approve, and her close friend Lady Russell also felt the match was unsuitable. Anne hasn’t forgotten him, and has not found anyone she likes nearly as much. So it’s a bit of a shock when she learns that he’s to be in the neighbourhood…

Much of the book is set in Bath, where Anne’s father and sister have gone for a while, to aid their dwindling finances. Anne herself stays with her sister Mary for a couple of months; Mary is married to a nice young man and has two children whom she finds very difficult; but Mary is both garrulous and a complainer, though essentially good-hearted. We see Anne in her role as aunt, as confidante, as someone whom everyone likes but who is often unnoticed.

There’s a large cast of characters, which I found a tad confusing at times. It’s not helped that three of the young men who feature are called Charles. But it didn’t matter too much; I followed Anne’s story, I felt for her confusion, embarrassment and growing rekindling of love, and I appreciated the gentle satire of many of the other characters.

Not my favourite Austen, but I was very glad to have the motivation to re-read ‘Persuasion’; recommended if you like this style of writing. It's widely available in paperback form, and for the Kindle. I downloaded the version I read free from Project Gutenberg.

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