Jane Austen completed her last novel, Persuasion, in 1816, the year before her death in 1817 at the age of 41. Had Austen lived longer and continued to write her magnificent novels, Persuasion might be considered a transition point in thematic development. The rules of lives lived in high society, unwritten, even unspoken, by the august members of Great Britain’s upper-crust (even the upper-crust of the lovely though out-of-the way town of Bath) just before the beginning of Victoria’s long reign were a game of sorts and remain so even today. And, like any game, playing in accord with the rules—bending them, breaking them—can be a delightful past time, especially when the activities result in fulfilling a character’s desires. But happy endings are not a given in life or in literature and, if won, can prove in the end to be hard won. Persuasion allows for a less charitable view of that same game and those same rules, as it is steeped in the snobbery of the fatuous lives of those who have nothing better to do than to keep score. In contrast to this hermetically sealed society, Austen presents the breadth and breath of life by looking beyond the short horizons of Bath to the daring, brilliant and courageous efforts of the men of the Royal British Navy at the dawn of its golden age. Ultimately, Anne Elliot, the novel’s heroine, finds happiness with the love of her heart, an ending to a complex story that lays bare some of the less attractive virtues attendant to a world view where status, real or imagined, deserved or (more likely) not, clings to primacy and rules all. (Summary by Michael Hogan)

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