The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen

A Novel Wherein She Tells Her Own Story of Lost Love, Second Chances, and Finding Her Happy Ending

By: Shannon Winslow

Narrated by: Elizabeth Klett

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

For every fan who has wished Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed the romance and happy ending she so carefully crafted for all her heroines: The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen, by Shannon Winslow. What if the tale Jane Austen told in her last, most poignant novel was inspired by momentous events in her own life? Did she in fact intend Persuasion to stand forever in homage to her one true love? While creating Persuasion, Jane Austen also kept a private journal in which she recorded the story behind the story, her real-life romance with a navy captain of her own. The parallel could only go so far, however. As author of her characters' lives, but not her own, Jane Austen made sure to fashion a second chance and happy ending for Anne and Captain Wentworth. Then, with her novel complete and her health failing, she prepared her simple will and resigned herself to never seeing the love of her life again. Yet fate, it seems, wasn't quite finished with her. Nor was Captain Devereaux. The official record says that Jane Austen died at 41, having never been married. But what if that's only what she wanted people to believe? It's time she, through her own private journal, revealed the rest of her story.

©2014 Shannon Winslow (P)2014 Shannon Winslow

Moving and emotional Jane Austen “What if … “

This book is an absolutely touching and emotional “what if” story about Jane Austen herself, incorporating events (some imaginary) and of Austen’s ‘real’ life and the writing of her Persuasion (The Elliots) novel, and ultimately culminating in her very own fictional HEA. The writing is flawless, the plot very clever and believable, and it kept me captivated throughout. I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. this morning listening, and finally had to give it up with about 2 hours left to go. I hated to stop, but well… one must sleep sometimes. I couldn’t wait to get back to it.

Elizabeth Klett’s narration is excellent too. She is never a disappointment to me. I absolutely loved this book and most definitely recommend it. Be sure to have tissues handy.

Imaginative version of Jane Austen's Life

I enjoyed Shannon Winslow's imaginative vision of Jane Austen's life and her version of Jane Austen's great love affair. Ms. Winslow has cleverly imagined Jane Austen in relation to her writing of the novel Persuasion and the book is well-written. The book is also suspenseful and satisfying. The narration done by Elizabeth Klett is superb. Ms. Klett has a wonderful English accent and she adroitly changes her voices so one hears different characters as they come up in the story. All in all, this was a most enjoyable recording.

Believable!!!

Loved this novel! I felt as if dear Jane Austen was talking to me personally and confiding her story of second chance (or did she get a 2nd chance like Anne Elliot?). I fell in love with Jane and her Captain D! Thank You, Ms Winslow for telling Jane’s story and thank You, Ms Klerk, for a masterful narration!

Romantic Insights

This novel speculated on the real-life sorts of experiences that might have been the sources of Jane Austen’s deep and compelling descriptions of romantic emotional and verbal interactions.

Lovely

Nice. I enjoyed it. Couldn't stop listening. Love the tone and acting of the reader.

Love the possibility of Jane Austen's life...

How can I convey to you my joy that someone else might also believe that Jane Austen did, indeed, live longer and found her true love.

This comes true for me in Shannon Winslow's words! Thank you so very much dear author! My heart decides to believe...

A stretch

The ending made me sad. The narrative hoops that the author had us jump through to get our heroine to a happy conclusion we're so implausible, even past the point of granting wish fulfillment. You just think, well, I guess it's hard to imagine a happy romantic ending for Jane, so this what imagining gets you. Plus, it didn't fit with the rest of the story. Much better to have simply rewritten the end of her story in a realistic way, than to imagine the same ending, with a secret escape.

Excellent narration!

One of the best narrators I’ve heard on Audible. Have to admit I wasn’t expecting to like this book/genre. I’m a bit of an Austen snob and didn’t think an adaptation novel somewhat based on history would be all that well written. It is. I’ll need to check out Ms Winslow’s other novels as well now and hope she has retained the same narrator

Not Persuasion

Thought I was buying Persuasion by Jane Austen. Very Disappointing:( Will be more careful in the future.