Persuasion
Jane Austen
I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as my all-time favourite of hers, Emma. Anne, the heroine, was a bit too sanctimonious for my liking (although Captain Wentworth was everything that a hero should be).
“Unmarried at twenty-seven, Anne Elliot fears that she is destined to be a spinster forever. The only love she ever felt was for a poor naval officer named Wentworth who proposed to her eight years ago. Because of his lack of family ties, Anne was persuaded to break off her engagement to him, and as a result ends up living with her father, Sir Walter Elliot, a self-centered baronet who rarely notices his second daughter.
Anne longs for her deceased mother as her female companions comprise mostly of her older sister, Elizabeth, who resembles their father in temperament too much for Anne’s taste, and her younger sister, Mary, who is nervous and arguably co-dependent.
Wentworth and Anne’s paths cross again when his brother-in-law, Admiral Croft, takes over the Elliot family estate. Austen, who often focused her works on themes centering on women and the gender roles of the day’s society, writes about the daily lives and interpersonal relationships between the members of this typical family. Her trademark subtle references to the irony of life and her satirical social commentary are also peppered throughout the novel, making it another of Austen’s classic works.” – Krystle Hernandez
“How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!”
“You pierce my soul.”