From Jane Austen's first full-length novel to her last: after reviewing Northanger Abbey, I've moved on to Persuasion. Both novels were published together after Austen's death in 1818, but whereas Northanger Abbey had been completed in 1798, Persuasion had been finished only two years before, in 1816. It is more subdued than Austen's previous novels, particularly the youthful Northanger Abbey (especially as both are set partly in Bath), but it is still a very enjoyable novel. Persuasion tells the story of 27-year-old Anne Elliot, daughter of the vain Sir Walter Elliot, and sister to the haughty Elizabeth and selfish Mary. Several years before the story began, ...  Read the complete review

Persuasion follows Anne Elliott as its Heroine. Anne is 27, lost her mother as a teenager, is middle daughter to a pompous father and has been in love with Mr Wentworth for about a decade. In the usual Austen style, love is thwarted at first by family restrictions. We travel a great deal of the South of England in this novel, visiting Lyme, Bath, the seaside, the countryside and the city. This is a romance, at the end of the day, that is what you get. There is a silliness which comes from Ann's younger sister Mary and indeed their father Sir Walter Elliott. Just the right amount of pomp, pride and superiority. There are characters who ...  Read the complete review