What does persuasion mean - a firm belief, or the action of persuading someone to think something else? Anne Elliot is one of Austen's quietest heroines, but also one of the strongest and the most open to change. She lives at the time of the Napoleonic wars, a time of accident, adventure, the making of new fortunes and alliances. A woman of no importance, she manoeuvres in her restricted circumstances as her long-time love Captain Wentworth did in the wars. Even though she is nearly thirty, well past the sell-by bloom of youth, Austen makes her win out for herself and for others like herself, in a regenerated society. Wordsworth Collector's Editions are compact cloth-bound hardbacks with matching coloured end papers, embossed gold and coloured blocking to enhance their beautiful, bespoke cover illustrations.
One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.
A lady, without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture in the world.
It was, perhaps, one of those cases in which advice is good or bad only as the event decides.
I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve.
