Pubblicato in Italia con il titolo Persuasione. Otto anni fa, la diciannovenne Anne Elliott rifiutò la proposta di matrimonio dell’uomo che amava. Ora lui è tornato e Anne deve affrontare le conseguenze della sua decisione.
I first read Persuasion a few years ago, when I was at university, and, while I remember enjoying it, I couldn’t say that back then it was one of my favourite Jane Austen’s novels, so I am delighted that reading it again now, I loved it much more than the first time.
Finished in the summer of 1816, Persuasion is the last finished novel by Jane Austen and it is one of the two novels published posthumously in 1818 (together with Northanger Abbey). Its protagonist is Anne Elliott who eight years earlier had been persuaded to reject the marriage proposal of the then penniless naval officer Frederick Wentworth, despite being desperately in love with him. Heartbroken, Wentworth left searching for fortune and now he is back, rich and a Captain. As they keep meeting, among friends and possible love interests, Anne and Wentworth need to figure out their feelings for each other.
Persuasion is a beautiful story of love and second chances with a likable heroine and a charming hero who wrote one of the most beautiful love letters in literature: “You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever.”
