Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”
~Book review from Mary~

Persuasion is the last, and perhaps least known, of Jane Austen’s 6 novels: Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Alicia, our editor, has done a book report on Sense & Sensibility in a past issue (July/Aug ‘98), and we plan to report on Pride & Prejudice next issue. I have only read Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion, but I’m eager to find the rest of the novels. Jane Austen is a very good author --her grammar is exceptionally correct and her word choice excellent. Miss Austen lived from 1775-1817 in England. She was the 7th of 8 children of a minister. Never marrying, Austen produced her novels during the last years of her life. In Persuasion, Anne Elliot, the heroine, is the 2nd daughter of three to the widower Sir Walter Elliot, a very vain and shallow baron. His eldest daughter is Elizabeth, 29 and single, who is as shallow, though perhaps not quite so vain, as himself. Elizabeth is mistress of her father’s house, Kellynch Hall. The youngest daughter is Mary, who has married a Charles Musgrove. Mary is quite a handful, always imagining others misuse her, and occasionally asking for Anne whenever the slightest ill. To complete the little circle, I must add Lady Russell and Mrs. Clay. Lady Russell is neighbor to the Elliots, and was a close friend to the late Lady Elliot. Lady Russell became like a second mother to Anne; however, she was the one who had dissuaded Anne from marrying Captain Wentworth, to whom she had been engaged. Mrs. Clay is a cunning, disreputable woman who had come back to her father, Mr. Shepherd (Sir Walter’s agent), after an unprosperous marriage. When Sir Walter and Elizabeth depart to the town of Bath semi-permanently, Elizabeth takes along Mrs. Clay, her friend and flatterer. Mrs. Clay, though, has evil designs on the Elliot family which she very nearly realized but by the alertness and action of William Elliot, heir presumptive of Sir Walter’s Kellynch, and lover of Anne. The story widens as it includes the rest of the Musgrove family, especially the young ladies, Henrietta and Louisa, Admiral and Mrs. Croft, Captain and Mrs. Harville, Captain Benwick, and Anne’s old schoolfellow, Mrs. Smith. I especially like the Crofts and Mrs. Smith. The story starts our as the Elliots find themselves deeply in debt due to extravagant spending. They decide to let Kellynch and live in Bath, and so Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Mrs. Clay go. Meanwhile, Mary Elliot Musgrove has demanded Anne to come, as she has not been feeling well. And so Anne leaves to attend her and meet new friends. As the Musgrove place, Uppercross, is only 3 miles from Kellynch, Anne meets the new tenants, Admiral and Mrs. Croft. But Mrs. Croft is sister to Captain Wentworth, the man Anne had turned down years ago. Captain Wentworth visits his sister, but gives Anne the cold shoulder, and starts to court one of the Musgrove ladies. Meanwhile, Anne is wooed by another --the heir presumptive of Kellynch! Surprises, a saddening accident, persistent love, humor, and Victorian elegance combine in this can’t-put-down novel. Definitely a choice for those who go for romantic classics.


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