"She feared that the same unfortunate persuasion still governed."

I was eighteen when I saw Persuasion and I didn't get it.

I was twenty-three when I saw Persuasion again and I loved it.

I was twenty-five when I read the book and it broke my heart, stole my breath, and then deposited both at my feet near the end of the story.

Most people prefer Pride and Prejudice, and while I do delight in Lizzy's victories and grieve for her humiliations, this was not a book that I was chained to. That's not to say I didn't love it--I rooted for this modern chick all the way. The ending uplifted me, and I genuinely believed in Lizzy's and Darcy's story, that they were the only people that could ever make the other truly happy.

I adore the film versions of all of Jane Austen's books, but I often wondered how much I would love the reading experience if it weren't for the wonderful pictures of the talented actors portraying these characters (Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Jeremy Northram, etc.) running through my head. I found Northanger Abbey a bit ridiculous even as a piece of satire and was unable to even finish Mansfield Park. But Persuasion ... Persuasion turned out to be my great love.

It was Persuasion that made my stomach drop when Captain Wentworth finally noticed Anne again, that made me throw the book down in frustration when Anne was being a martyr (only to pick it up again as fast as I threw it down), that made me cheer when (to quote Kipling) Anne kept her cool when those all around her were losing theirs, that made me cry in that wonderful heartwrenching, poignant way when Wentworth finally wrote the letter and they walked home through the park together.

It is Persuasion that I reread parts of to myself just for the sheer joy of the language and the dialogue and the conversation. It is Persuasion that took me through a life's cycle of emotions--contentment, loneliness, meloncholy, hopelessness, hopefulness, love, and utter joy. It is Persuasion that motivates me to read other Austens in the hope of finding that absolute joy again. It is Persuasion that I stole a copy of from the library just because I had to have the copy that I first read. It is Persuasion that spoke to my soul and changed my life in the way that only few books can do. It is Persuasion that speaks to the adult Jane Austen reader that I am now. It is the heartbreak and the loss and the redemption and the forgiveness of Persuasion that, as an adult, I identify with.