Frederick sat there for a moment, thinking. “You know, I have to say the number one barrier in a lasting relationship with me is weakness of character. If a woman can easily be persuaded by her friends and family to do something she doesn’t really want, then she and I won’t make a good pair.”
I sat there looking at the television and I realized I was never going to be able to fix the mistake I had made. This next month was going to be torture.
(from Modern Persuasion)
Modern Persuasion by Sara Marks takes Jane Austen’s Persuasion into the present day. Emma Shaw (Anne Elliot) is an editor at the publishing house run by family friend Karen Russell, who is grooming Emma to take over the imprint run by her father, Walter Shaw. Somehow Emma manages to sort out her father’s and sister Elizabeth’s financial troubles, cater to her needy sister Mary, and get everything in order for PubCon. She’s hit hard by the appearance of Frederick Wentworth, who is there to promote his new book before going on tour.
Circumstances conspire to put Emma in charge of Frederick’s book tour, which makes for some awkward situations given that they haven’t been in touch since she turned down his marriage proposal eight years ago. Emma holds it together the best she can as she and Frederick, accompanied by his friend Patrick and her assistant Louisa, go from city to city barely speaking to one another, and definitely not addressing their unresolved feelings.
Marks’ knowledge and appreciation of Austen’s novel shines through in her retelling. I recognized Anne and Captain Wentworth in her Emma and Frederick (though I wonder why her name was changed to Emma). I liked the setting of the novel, the various cities on the book tour and then in Cape Cod, and how Marks translated the obstacles faced by the characters into modern times and made them feel real and relevant. However, some of the scenes could’ve been fleshed out with some dialogue, and some of the repetitive elements at the end could have been eliminated.
Even so, I enjoyed Modern Persuasion. It was fresh and fun, a fast-paced read, and I always enjoy when authors are inspired by an Austen novel other than Pride and Prejudice.
Disclosure: I received Modern Persuasion from the author for review.
Lovely review Anna. I can’t wait to read this. I can see this rethinking of Persuasion translated well to modern times. I think I agree with you in… why change Anne’s name. When that happens, I usually feel the jerk in the story as my brain pushes against the incongruity of the switch. But, that was the author’s choice.
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I guess it wasn’t a big deal overall, but it was a curious thing given that most of the other characters had the same first names.
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I read and enjoyed this book also.
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Glad to hear it, Sheila!
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Thank you for a nice review.
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Thanks, Mystica!
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I enjoyed this book as well, but I agree that some more fleshing out was needed in certain parts. And PubCon was so like BookExpo
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I thought that, too!
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