I hate it a lot

A good read

Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’ allows a modern reader to gain an intimate insight into the restricted lives of women towards the end of eighteenth century England. It is a very confined world where women have little or no access to higher education and status and wealth are all important.

For the majority of women their only hope of having a chance at a fulfilling life was to marry an eligible man of whom their family and friends approved and with whom they were compatible. Their lives were expected to revolve around motherhood and the running of the household.

Gossip abounded and even the slightest hint of impropriety could wreck a woman’s chances of being married into a suitable family.

It is a world in which a woman’s talent and intellect are generally held in low regard.

Jane Austen allows her reader to view the manners of polite society through her sensitive, intelligent and insightful narrator Anne Elliot. As a reader we can have confidence in her portrayal of the other characters and her insight into the world of limited opportunities for self-expression and personal fulfilment.

I really enjoyed the story. I would thoroughly recommend it. I really like Jane Austen's

work.

An excellent story however I must put it out there that I have read other Jane Austin books in paper back and I can not be sure that this copy is one of her originals. The language is completely different to that of the way she wrote Mansfield Park and Sence and Sensibility, which leads me to believe this version has been edited for the purpose of the 20th century.

I didn't know where this book was going as it had curious characters and many naval references. It improved a couple of chapters in and was very enjoyable to read. classic.