Persuasion

Austen’s last completed novel is her most melancholy, even as it is also an achingly romantic story featuring a second-chance-at-love trope. Anne Elliot is 27 years old, long past the accepted age to marry, and has been reduced to being both ignored and taken advantage of by her family. At 19, she was engaged to the dynamic Frederick Wentworth, but she was persuaded to end the engagement due to his lack of prospects, even though she loved him deeply and remains in love with him still. Wentworth is now a rich, dashing naval captain and returns to Anne’s neighborhood to look for a bride—but is not, it seems, interested in Anne. As the story unfolds, readers gain intimate access to Anne’s thoughts and feelings while she watches her beloved court other women and slowly finds her sense of self again. Austen’s work is slyly subversive, speaking to her contemporary audience about issues that remain relevant today. How does one choose what to do when faced with difficult decisions and murky, at best, data upon which to base them? How does one truly forgive? How does anyone make up for a past mistake?