Jane Austen: Persuasion (1818)

Edition: Penguin
Review number: 31

Persuasion is the shortest of Jane Austen's completed novels, and is famous for being one in which nothing happens. In some ways, it doesn't feel as much a finished work of art as some of the others; there are parts which are far more fully written than others - some events are glossed over, other similar ones gone into in detail.

Anne Elliott is another Jane Austen heroine with intelligence but from an incredibly stupid family. Her father and eldest sister are obsessed with the status of the family, and they are no judges of personality at all.

The plot of the book is simply that of the return of a formerly rejected lover (Captain Wentworth) after many years, causing Anne to realise that she had made a great mistake in not accepting him at the time. This would have been a match which would have incensed her family, as he was a penniless sailor, and she the daughter of a (spendthrift) baronet. The book is the story of the realisation dawning, and then the hope that he will not now be indifferent to her.

As usual with Jane Austen, the characters are well drawn, though those you dislike are slightly more caricatures than usual. I feel reasonably sure that she would have wanted to revise this book again, though I'm glad to be able to read it.