Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion

Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion from Regina Jeffers is the perfect book for readers who love Jane Austen’s Persuasion!

It gives us a glimpse of how Frederick Wentworth and Anne Elliot met, and their consequent courtship period, before moving on to the main story which is a retelling from Wentworth’s point of view alternated with their life at sea after their marriage. By bringing all of this together in one single book, Mrs. Jeffers created the most complete Persuasion book one can find; it is a prequel, a variation with different POV and a sequel!

In the beginning I found the alternation between the events a little confusing, but I soon started to enjoy these alternate chapters and particularly how they converge into the story’s ending.

I loved seeing Frederick Wentworth in his youth meeting Anne Elliot, falling in love with her and having his heart shattered. I always wondered why there weren’t more books that focused on this particuar period because I always had a big curiosity about how they met, why they fell in love with one another, and how was Anne’s refusal delivered; Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion came to satiate my need for this 🙂

I particularly enjoyed the fact that we are presented with Wentworth’s POV instead of Anne’s because it gives us a more masculine view of every scene, and it makes us feel more close to him as a character than to Anne. He will not seem as cruel or fickle as in Persuasion because we are able to see his side of the story, and we know what is on his mind and heart in each scene. By seeing the story through his eyes we will find him more romantic and irresistible than in Persuasion, and those who may have had reserves regarding him, may very well forget all about that when reading this book.

I know some people are not as fond of Wentworth as I am, but I believe that if they read this book, they will come to like him more. It is very different to witness every scene from his point of view, and to understand when he realized he was paying too much attention to Louisa Musgrove and that such behavior had to stop.

Even though I enjoyed immensely this book, I would have liked to see a little more of their courtship when they were young, and to understand a little better why Wentworth fell in love with Anne. But this was not a prequel per se, and being only an introduction to the book itself, I understand the author would not want to spend too much time in this period of the story.

It is very curious, but in Persuasion I felt more empathy towards Anne, in this book I felt more empathy towards Wentworth as Anne sometimes appeared to be a character towards whom I felt pity and could not like so much. This was a very positive aspect, as it allowed me to appreciate the story from both points of view and have a wider assessment of both personalities and how they are perceived by themselves and by others.

As mentioned earlier, this book is the most complete novel one could find based on Jane Austen’s Persuasion and I have no doubt that all Persuasion enthusiasts will love it considering how deep it goes into the lives and personalities of Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot. It is a romantic tale that brings to light a new side of Wentworth that will make each reader fall in love with him even more. I highly recommend it to JAFF readers.

You can find Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion at:

Amazon.com