Persuasion

Published within the same volume set and at the same time (1818) as Northanger Abbey, Persuasion was Austen’s sixth and final full-scale novel. Anne Eliot provides the central character as a woman in her late twenties who, some nine years previously, broke off an engagement to one Frederick Wentworth after being persuaded by her father that he was unsuited because of his limited prospects. The usual Austenian plot twists are employed so that Wentworth, Anne’s true love, may return happily rich to resolve the plot. Like its publishing partner, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion was issued without the kind of editorial flourishes favoured in Austen’s other books. However, it is different from her other novels by virtue of presenting a lead character who might be deemed past her prime, or at the least neglected on the marriage front. Some see this as a reflection on Austen’s own circumstances as a life-long spinster (who turned down a marriage proposal), but for whom the novel provides a better resolution.