My Favorite Hero

I have read what my scholars have said about me and my works and I must disagree. They say if you are a true Janenite then you love "Mansfield Park" the best. I say if you are a true Janenite then you love "Persuasion" the best. "Persuasion" was my last novel. In fact I'm not entirely sure if I like how it was published. I had a few other scenes and was reworking others when I died. (hmm...I'm dead and yet I'm posting to a blog. I didn't know the internet had even made its way to Heaven. Perhaps it should be more than just the world wide web). Anyway I love Wentworth. He stays faithful to Anne even though she turned him away. He loved her for 8 years before they got together. A wiser Anne and a wiser Wentworth. I know that Hollywood has talked about my love life and made movies about myself and Tom LeFroy. The PBS movie "Miss Austen Regrets" was much better.

On to Wentworth:
I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. 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. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconsistant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes?I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F.W.
I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.

This is the letter Wentworth writes to Anne and I know of many women who would love to receive such a letter. Some have said I received such a letter from Tom LeFroy, but turned him down. Because my dear Cassandra burned my letters you will never know for sure. There are several "Persuasion" books that are very good. Most are updates although one takes place during the Regency period. Today we are going to look at "Persuasion" from Wentworth's point of view.

Amanda Grange has written a diary from each of my male characters. Each is excellent. "Captain Wentworth's Diary" explains "Persuasion" through Wentworth's eyes. It discusses their first meetings and then picks up when they meet again.

For another view, this one starting a little before Wentworth meets Anne for the second time, you should read Susan Kaye's "None But You" and its sequel "For You Alone." Unlike some of the Darcy perspectives, both of these are quite good and there are no crazy women sacrificing pigs and pretending they are babies. (Anyone who has read the Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman series by Pamela Aiden will totally understand).