Read this if you…
- have already read P&P and Emma (this one is a step down)
- want a protagonist less flawed than other austen novels
Skip this if you…
- haven't already read P&P and Emma
The 
Take
I know Austen heads put this one 1, but still behind PP and Emma for me, Anne lacked dimension for me, and I liked it better when her heroines were more flawed
Depicted in Art
Mary Musgrove lies on the sofa at Uppercross Cottage in performative invalidism, complaining to Anne who has just arrived.
C. E. Brock, 1909
Sir Walter Elliot stands admiring himself before a cheval-glass at Kellynch Hall, oblivious to anything beyond his own reflection.
C. E. Brock, 1909
Wentworth, having pretended to leave for forgotten gloves, returns to the writing-table and slips his letter to Anne in front of the assembled company.
C. E. Brock, 1909
A Regency-era costumed scene of Anne and Wentworth, engraved for the first French translation of Persuasion published in Paris.
Arthus Bertrand, 1821
On the autumn walk to Winthrop, Wentworth holds up a glossy hazelnut to Louisa Musgrove to praise firmness of character; Anne overhears from behind the hedge.
C. E. Brock, 1909
Admiral Croft stops to peer at a print of a clumsily drawn ship in a Bath shop window; Anne, walking up Milsom Street, finds him there.
C. E. Brock, 1909
Recommended Editions
Penguin Classics
2003
The Penguin, with Gillian Beer's introduction reading Persuasion as the quiet, late Austen, a novel about second chances and changing your mind. Clean text, the best reading copy of the book.
Please support us by purchasing through these links, at no extra cost to you!
Notable Quotes
You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.
Screen & Stage
Persuasion
Film · 1995
Roger Michell
Persuasion
TV · 2007
Adrian Shergold
Persuasion
Film · 2022
Carrie Cracknell
Posters via The Movie Database (TMDB)
- Nigella Lawson, British food writer and television presenter, 1960-: "Everyone has their Austen, and this is mine."
- Virginia Woolf, English novelist & critic, 1882–1941: "There is a peculiar beauty and a peculiar dullness in Persuasion."
- C. S. Lewis, literary scholar & writer, 1898–1963: Captain Wentworth is almost the best of Austen's heroes, and watchful, pained Anne among her most attractive heroines.
- Harold Bloom, literary critic, 1930–2019: "Each time I finish a rereading of this perfect novel, I feel very sad."
