The Connell Guide to Jane Austen's Persuasion

Anne Elliot is twenty-seven, quiet and kind, and quite possibly destined, like her creator, to remain unmarried. John Wiltshire, one of the finest modern critics of Austen, explains why the novel she wrote in her forties feels so different from the light, bright sparkle of Pride and Prejudice. It is a more sombre book, shadowed by deaths, its irony sometimes gentle and sometimes savage. He shows how its love story, a second chance after a life nearly wasted, unfolds within a constricting and wholly believable social world.

Wiltshire is especially good on how Austen lets us into Anne's mind. She emerges as a heroine watchful and critical of herself, alert to her own self-deceptions, yet full of longing and desire. This is a clear, thoughtful companion for students and for anyone who already loves this grown-up love story.