Product Description

What does persuasion mean - a firm belief, or the action of persuading someone to think something else? Anne Elliot is one of Austen's quietest heroines, but also one of the strongest and the most open to change. She lives at the time of the Napoleonic wars, a time of accident, adventure, the making of new fortunes and alliances. A woman of no importance, she manoeuvres in her restricted circumstances as her long-time love Captain Wentworth did in the wars. Even though she is nearly thirty, well past the sell-by bloom of youth, Austen makes her win out for herself and for others like herself, in a regenerated society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6356 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Introduction and Notes by Elaine Jordan, Reader in Literature, University of Essex

Customer Reviews

An unalloyed delight
A Cinderella story from the pen of one of England's finest. Anne is saddled with a father whose ego is the size of a small caribbean island and two sisters whom you will certainly love to hate. Elizabeth makes her father look modest, whilst Mary possesses all the sense and sensitivity of Sir Toby Belch. The fairy godmother figure(her deceased mother's best friend)has unfortunately made a singular error - she advised the youthful Anne against marrying a certain Captain many years ago and as a result our heroine was persuaded to let the love of her life slip through her fingers. Now perched firmly on the shelf, Anne finds herself unexpectedly swept back into company with her erstwhile lover. No longer so young & blooming herself, Anne suffers the mortification of watching him courting another girl and knowing that she has nobody but herself to blame. Enter another suitor, stage left - will Anne allow herself to be swept away by this new charmer? Will her father realise that beauty is only skin deep? Will Mary's long-suffering husband try strangling his dreadful spouse? Will Elizabeth win herself a husband? Enjoy.

Greatly Influenced My Emotional Life
This book came into my life at a time I really needed it. Perhaps that makes me partial to it, but I found it compelling, compassionate, and greatly moving. Not a general reader of Austen, but compelled to pick it up after viewing the movie, I was impressed with it's insight and its emotional and social commentary. But more than social commentary it is, though to some it may sound trite, a book of the heart and soul. For me it was spiritually cleansing and emotionally purifying. A book of beauty and love, a work which has become a personal favorite.

Slow.... But Beautiful
This novel is one you'd like to curl up with on a rainy day. The plot is great... A relationship that didn't work out 8 1/2 years before, and getting a second chance at that same relationship. It's beautiful.

Anne Elliot is quiet, but strong. Jane Austen describes as not being beautiful, but proves that character is almost everything in a relationship. Frederick Wentworth, on the other hand, is handsome and rich. But he too, has character, in that he still loved Anne Elliott even after she hurt him so many years ago.

This book is one of constancy even when all hope of restoration is gone, and the courage to forgive, start all over again and love even more. It's wonderful.