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I recently had the chance to go to London for a few days. The city was my home for several years quite a few moons ago, so it always feels like an old friend. It is one of the great cities of the world, a buzzing, energetic urban centre where there is a wealth of things to see and do. My time in London was limited, but I did not fail to take the underground to Leicester Square and sneak in a visit to a very special place in St Martin's Place.

The National Portrait Gallery is one of my favourite museums in London. As its name suggests, it houses an outstanding collection of likenesses from the last five hundred years in a range of mediums. Some of the sitters were once famous or historically significant, others led truly remarkable lives, others were perfectly anonymous, but their portraits are all fascinating. Walking through its rooms is like paying a visit to a history book.

The portrait of Shakespeare, all intensity, with a shiny forehead and a single earring? It's in the National Portrait Gallery. The stately images of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I that never fail to make it into their biographies? They're there. The famous likeness of the Brontë sisters by their unhappy brother? It's housed there as well, like many other works of art that you may rightly call iconic.

By now, you have probably guessed whose portrait I went to see: Jane Austen's, drawn by her sister Cassandra around 1810. It is the only known and verified likeness of the author, because controversy surrounds other portraits that have been found over the years, as Alexa Adam's recent article on the Rice portrait attests.

When I reached the early XIX century rooms, full of the magnificent portraits of Regency royalty, aristocracy and celebrities, I almost walked past it, because Austen's likeness is not hanging on the wall. It is so fragile that it is kept in a display of its own, away from harsh lights.

The portrait is minute: 4 1/2 inches x 3 1/8 inches (or 114 mm x 80 mm). I can assure you that it is so tiny that one wonders at Cassandra's ability to draw a likeness in such a small space. Precisely because of its size, the portrait, although the work of an amateur, is admirable. Jane's dark curls, faintly protruding eyes and aquiline nose are delicately captured. The image gives a vivid idea of what the author must have looked like, and suggests that she had a strong personality.

Of course, the portrait of Jane Austen that we all have come to identify as hers, which features in the 10 notes in circulation since September 2017, is not this one, but rather the beautified version produced during Victorian times. The likeness, by artist James Andrews, was commissioned by Jane Austen's nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, son of her brother James. It was to illustrate A Memoir of Jane Austen, a collection of family memories he published over a half a century after his aunt's death.

The redrawn portrait shows a younger, prettier, more amenable woman, very much in line with the Victorian ideal of a virtuous spinster. It is perhaps no coincidence that it also appears to fit much better with the memories that James Edward had of his aunt:

In complexion, she was a clear brunette with a rich colour; she had full round cheeks, with mouth and nose small and well formed, bright hazel eyes, and brown hair forming natural curls close round her face.
-James Edward Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen (1870)

Other than the "natural curls", slender neck and delicate mouth, little remains of the original portrait. The slightly annoyed, almost defiant attitude that Cassandra captured so well in her watercolour is softened to the point of disappearance. Disconcertingly, a later version of the Victorian portrait also added a wedding band to Jane Austen's ring finger, although it is a widely known fact that she never married.

The Victorian portraits of Jane Austen may be more commercially minded and have more popular appeal. However, they lack the power of Cassandra's original watercolour, or at least, the intensity I felt staring at it. Reader, I got goosebumps. It was mind-blowing to think that this tiny piece of ancient paper had been in Cassandra's hands, and in such close proximity to my favourite author.

Next time you are in London, if you happen to be near Leicester Square, Charing Cross or Trafalgar Squar, pop in to the National Portrait Gallery. Head straight to the second floor and look for a miniature case in Room 18. Then, marvel at the thought of such a fragile piece having survived over two centuries so we can still enjoy it today, just as we enjoy Austen's novels.
Which is your favourite Austen portrait and why? What do you think she really looked like?

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Jane Austen's Portrait by her Sister Cassandra

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I recently had the chance to go to London for a few days. The city was my home for several years quite a few moons ago, so it always feels like an old friend. It is one of the great cities of the w...

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Jane Austen was primarily educated at home, benefiting from her father's extensive library and the schoolroom atmosphere created by Mr. Austen's live-in pupils.

Though she lived a quiet life, she had unusual access to the greater world, primarily through her brothers. Francis (Frank) and Charles, officers in the Royal Navy, served on ships around the world and saw action in the Napoleonic Wars. Henry, who eventually became a clergyman like his father and his brother James, was an officer in the militia and later a banker. Austen visited Henry in London, where she attended the theater, art exhibitions, and social events and also corrected proofs of her novels. Her brother Edward was adopted by wealthy cousins, the Knights, becoming their heir and later taking their name. On extended visits to Godmersham, Edward's estate in Kent, Austen and her sister took part in the privileged life of the landed gentry, which is reflected in all her fiction.

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Jane Austen was primarily educated at home, benefiting from her father's extensive library and the schoolroom atmosphere created by Mr. Austen's live-in pupils. Though she lived a quiet life, she had unusual access to the greater world, primarily through her brothers.

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[(essay date winter 2007) In the following essay, Anderson and VonderBecke explore the significance of walking as a metaphor for love and marriage in Persuasion.]

Jane Austen integrates walking into Persuasion to aid in the progression of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth's relationship. The forward movement of an ordinary walk parallels the development of the couple's romantic bond. In such instances as Anne's daily walks, the strolls about Lyme, and Anne and Wentworth's final convergence in Bath, walking serves to clear the characters' minds and rejuvenate their bodies while providing opportunities for social bonding. Walks are essential to the advancement of Anne and Wentworth's romance: they prepare Anne to be the wife of a traveling naval captain; they accentuate her superiority and Louisa's inferiority as potential wives; and they serve as a social medium through which Anne and Wentworth rediscover their mutual passion.

Numerous scholars acknowledge the significance of walking in Austen's novels, though few provide in-depth analyses of its critical importance in Persuasion. Sally Palmer argues that this simple activity "promotes and advances social relationships, develops aesthetic sensibilities, and leads to proper understanding of correct behavior and thinking" (154). She asserts that mobility is essential to Austen's characters and acknowledges the catalytic social function of walks in cementing social connections and forwarding the plot. Mary Jane Curry, applying this premise to Pride and Prejudice, argues that "Elizabeth's walks--solitary or in company with Mr. Darcy and the Gardiners--figure a gradual change in her" and manifest Austen's innovative feminization of "the conventions of serious pastoral" (176). Melissa Sodeman explicates Anne Elliot's displacement from multiple homes and her frequent rambles that render her domesticity both more mobile and more developed than the more stationary domesticity portrayed in Austen's earlier novels.

Anne's frequent walks, whether with or without Wentworth, anticipate her future travels as a naval captain's wife. Significantly, when she hears that the Crofts will likely rent Kellynch-hall, drawing her former fiancé back after nearly eight years, Anne imagines Wentworth taking a walk. While walking herself, she visualizes his return, initiating the parallel between walking and the growth of their relationship: "as [Anne] walked along a favourite grove, [she] said, with a gentle sigh, 'a few months more, and he, perhaps, may be walking here'" (25). She still loves Wentworth, despite having ended their engagement and having been separated from him for so long. He must learn that he still loves her as well, and that she is his ideal mate. Wentworth tells his sister Sophia, half seriously, that he would like to marry a girl with "'[a] little beauty, and a few smiles, and a few compliments to the navy'" (62). He knows that his future wife must admire the navy, for she may not have the luxuries of one home in which to spend her entire life. Travel is inevitable in the life of a naval officer and, therefore, must be accepted by his spouse. Always on the move, Anne is already prepared for this reality. She "lives in no fewer than five residences" in Persuasion and has become accustomed to traveling (Sodeman 789). Her daily walks further demonstrate her mobility and likelihood not merely to accept but to enjoy the life of a sailor's wife. "On the morning appointed for Admiral and Mrs. Croft's seeing Kellynch-hall, Anne found it most natural to take her almost daily walk to Lady Russell's" (32). Not only is she an instinctive traveler, she further proves herself to be Wentworth's ideal woman by defending the navy to her father: "'The navy, I think, who have done so much for us, have at least an equal claim with any other set of men, for all the comforts and all the privileges which any home can give. Sailors work hard enough for their comforts, we must all allow'" (19). Anne appreciates sailors' sacrificial, physically demanding lives, and she indirectly identifies with that life through her habitual rambles, which are often motivated by benevolent intentions.

The walks in Persuasion play a significant role in the progressive reunification of Anne with her sailor, Wentworth; they prove Anne's superiority to Louisa and provide her and Wentworth with opportunities for interaction that aid in the revelation of their enduring love. In addition to her flexibility and admiration of the navy, Anne manifests a physical and mental superiority to other women that marks her as Wentworth's ideal woman. She conveys a sensitive appreciation for nature's beauty, with which she and her relationship with Wentworth become associated in the course of the novel. Persuasion begins in the autumn; however, autumn promises the growth of spring (Sherry 146). Autumn suggests Anne's loss of love and youthful beauty, but it also portends the arrival of a springtime of renewed hope and vigor. The dying, falling leaves are eventually succeeded by a season of growth and new life. "In Persuasion ... nature exerts its own abiding power over the lives of the characters" (Spence 629). Spence refers to this use of nature as "dynamic" because of the change in seasons and the way they mirror Anne's change of bloom (629). Walking during this transformation corresponds with the passage of time and the fading of one season into the next (Gill 349). It contributes to the smooth transition between seasons. It is as if Anne walks down the path of her life, from fall to spring, as reflected by the changes in nature during her walks.

In November, Anne joins Mary, the Miss Musgroves and Wentworth on a long walk in the fields around Uppercross. The autumn reflects Anne's lost bloom, and the lengthy walk parallels the nearly eight long years she and Wentworth have been apart. This challenging hike among the hills and farms occurs prior to their renewed relationship and reflects in the natural landscape the obstacles to and potentialities of their love. They wander among the company in a disjointed, meandering manner as they study each other's feelings; they will one day proceed confidently side-by-side into the future as a couple. This fall ramble reveals important information to both: Wentworth learns that Anne rejected a marriage proposal from another man, and Anne learns that Wentworth values qualities she possesses, though he does not currently recognize them in her. She overhears his speech to Louisa, in which he sermonizes on the merit of "'a beautiful glossy nut'" that is "'blessed with original strength'" and has "'outlived all the storms of autumn'" (88) due to its firmness. (Wentworth will discover on a future walk that Anne is the firm hazelnut he seeks.)

On the November walk, both Anne's sister Mary and Louisa Musgrove serve as foils to set off Anne's superior nature. Even a discussion of the excursion before it begins underscores Anne's superiority to the other women. The Musgrove sisters ungraciously attempt to dissuade Mary from accompanying them on the outing by suggesting it will be too protracted for her. The perpetually offended Mary whines to the forbearing Anne, "'I cannot imagine why they should suppose I should not like a long walk! ... Every body is always supposing that I am not a good walker!'" (83). The Musgrove sisters and others assume that hypochondriac Mary does not like long walks and is "'not a good walker,'" an unkind but understandable excuse to discourage her company. Moreover, since walking reflects Anne's emotions and beauty throughout the novel, the fact that Mary is supposed a terrible walker pinpoints her lack of the natural beauty present in Anne. Anne walks regularly and enjoys the freedom and natural surroundings that evoke her own inner and outer beauty, a beauty that ultimately attracts Wentworth back to her. Mary, the daughter who claims she is sick in order to receive attention, lacks her sister's subtle charm and humility. Naturally, Charles Musgrove fell for Anne first and then settled for Mary after receiving Anne's refusal.

In contrast to Mary's self-centered weakness, Anne conveys a strength and determination to appreciate the landscape despite her inner misery:

Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness, that season which has drawn from every poet, worthy of being read, some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.(84)

The autumnal scene in this passage reflects Anne's feelings of loss. The withered hedges symbolize her declining beauty and regret over her rejection of Wentworth, but she walks on in the hope of spring bringing happiness (Litz 153). She assumes that she has no hope of reattaching her former lover in her present "loss of bloom and spirits" (Austen 28). Despite Anne's sorrows, she has the courage to move past them and becomes attentive to the natural world around her (Duckworth 319). Curry claims that "Austen's novels imply that ... country life is better for young women than city life. ... [N]ature is a source of comfort and freedom as well as beauty" (176). Anne looks to nature for liberation from her burdens, but she also exhibits strength of will and generosity of spirit in focusing on nature's glories and accommodating the desires and demands of others, regardless of her privately mournful heart and her awareness of Wentworth's apparent interest in Louisa.

At the conclusion of the walk to Winthrop (a walk that, significantly, leads to the restoration of the Henrietta-Hayter alliance), Austen shows a change in Anne and Wentworth's relationship. Wentworth observes Anne becoming sluggish from the long walk and insists she ride back in his sister's carriage; he instinctively looks out for her needs (MacDonagh 101): "Captain Wentworth, without saying a word, turned to her, and quietly obliged her to be assisted into the carriage" (91). Her step into the carriage and cessation from walking signals a shift of emotions in both Anne and Captain Wentworth. Before he seems to realize or admit that he still loves her, he conveys an intuitive understanding of and interest in her well being that betrays the secret constancy behind his arrogant show of independence. A change has also occurred in Anne. His assistance into the carriage helps to further her reinvigoration and journey toward love's springtime by awakening her to the realization that he possesses "a remainder of former sentiment; it was an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship" (91).

Wentworth's passion for Anne is re-evoked when the two sojourn to Lyme with Mary, Charles, and the Musgrove sisters and participate in critical walking adventures that further showcase Anne's superiority. On a ramble at Lyme, Anne's physical beauty is revealed and shines once again. The narrator credits the "fine wind which had been blowing on her complexion" for accentuating her returning "bloom and freshness of youth" (104). Now that Anne's attractiveness has returned, Wentworth cannot help but notice her even more than before. "Austen's novels involve movement, process, and change, primarily toward the enhanced independence of a marriage" (Palmer 164). Wentworth both recognizes Anne's prettiness and witnesses a stranger's admiration for it, an admiration that confirms both her inherent desirability and her greater charm as compared to the two other women present. When they pass the man who is later revealed as Mr. Elliot and who becomes Wentworth's rival, Mr. Elliot shows "a degree of earnest admiration, which she could not be insensible of. She was looking remarkably well. ... Captain Wentworth looked round at her instantly in a way which shewed his noticing of it. He gave her a momentary glance,--a glance of brightness, which seemed to say, 'That man is struck with you,--and even I, at this moment, see something like Anne Elliot again'" (104). This scene is climactic in that Wentworth's attention is diverted from the younger, bubblier Musgrove sisters (whom Mr. Elliot does not single out with admiring glances) to his former beloved as he rediscovers his physical attraction to her.

After this walk at Lyme establishes Anne's physical desirability, another walk there reinforces her estimable strength of character and the foolish belligerence of her foil. It is ironic that when Wentworth shared his analogy of the hazelnut with Louisa, he had declared that "'many of its brethren have fallen'" (88). This analogy parallels the positions of Anne and Louisa after the incident at the Cobb. Louisa is first considered a candidate for Wentworth's wife. When she stubbornly insists on jumping from a dangerous height, however, and falls, she reveals her inferiority of character to Wentworth and "falls" in his opinion. When she becomes engaged to Captain Benwick, she leaves the relieved Captain Wentworth enlightened to Anne's merits and free to pursue her. It is as if Louisa has "fallen from the tree" and Anne has remained strong and attached to the tree through the storms of Wentworth's resentment and reactive flirtation. The last quality he attaches to the nut is its firmness. Anne exemplifies this quality in the physical vigor she has attained from walking and the mental vigor she has always possessed and which she has honed by enduring long suffering and remaining true to her nature. Wentworth has told his sister that he wants "'[a] strong mind, with sweetness of manner'" in his future wife (62).

Anne's "'strong mind,'" symbolically represented by her walking, is best showcased during the walk at Lyme when Louisa falls off the Cobb and loses consciousness. Anne demonstrates calmness, clarity of mind, intelligence and leadership under duress when everyone else either panics or becomes paralyzed from shock: "Anne, attending with all the strength and zeal, and thought, which instinct supplied, to Henrietta, still tried, at intervals, to suggest comfort to the others, tried to quiet Mary, to animate Charles, to assuage the feelings of Captain Wentworth. Both seemed to look to her for directions" (111). Anne takes charge immediately after Louisa's dreadful fall. She does not throw hysterics like Mary or wilt into helplessness like Wentworth; she gives orders and does what is needed to save Louisa, all while comforting those around her. She instantly "becomes the authority to whom others turn" after the incident on the Cobb (Tanner 235). Captain Wentworth begins to realize the strength of mind and "'sweetness of manner'" that Anne possesses (Austen 62; Johnson 151).

Although Anne's revitalized beauty has been manifested in the earlier Lyme walk, her superior beauties of character must also be clearly underscored before Wentworth recognizes the true object of his passion. Before the accident, Louisa and Wentworth seem likely to be engaged soon, but Louisa's behavior on that most significant walk, ironically, jars his own brain, and he perceives the difference between discerning firmness and thoughtless obduracy. Louisa wishes to jump from the steep Cobb a second time; Wentworth attempts to dissuade her and fails: "she smiled and said, 'I am determined I will:' he put out his hands; she was too precipitate by half a second, she fell on the pavement on the Lower Cobb, and was taken up lifeless!" (109). Paradoxically, Wentworth's inability to persuade Louisa to alter her actions suggests that she lacks the firmness of true judgment but rather possesses an "egotistical rashness" (Tanner 233). Wentworth experiences first-hand the tragic consequences of a personality that is not to be persuaded, thereby possibly increasing his empathy for Anne's being persuaded by a trusted friend to alter her decision and reject him when she was nearly Louisa's current age. Louisa disregards his concern and fails to consider the consequences that may arise from her action. She has bounced flirtatiously like a stray nut down the steps into Wentworth's arms; she ultimately falls astray of her target and smacks her head on the Lower Cobb. This walk results in the removal of Louisa as competition and the likely removal of Wentworth's prejudice against Anne's character, thus bringing the former lovers closer to each other and a renewed engagement: "[Anne] thought it could scarcely escape him to feel, that a persuadable temper might sometimes be as much in favour of happiness, as a very resolute character" (116).

Two final walks confirm Wentworth's conviction of Anne's superiority to all other women, reinforce the couple's compatibility, and affirm the reciprocity of their passion. The springtime of Anne and Wentworth's love finally comes to fruition at Bath, where Wentworth pursues Anne after his liberation from Louisa. Anne's competition has been eliminated, but Wentworth must face competition as well. Even a missed walk affects the progression of the protagonists' romance. One way in which Wentworth communicates his desire to reconnect with Anne, when they meet at a shop during a rain shower, is by offering his umbrella for her walk home. Mr. Elliot returns to the shop for the clearly prearranged purpose of being her escort, however, thus thwarting Wentworth's opportunity for an intimate walk with her. This incident introduces Wentworth to his rival and augments his yearning for Anne; succeeding events heighten his jealousy as he sees repeated evidence of Mr. Elliot's intentions and seemingly perfect suitability to be Anne's husband. Her restored beauty has become so evident that even her father admits she can omit his prescription of "'the constant use of Gowland, during the spring months'" (146). After the climax of Wentworth's jealousy at the concert, succeeded by Anne's debate about love with Captain Harville and Wentworth's proposal via letter, the two lovers finally converge from their individual walks. Charles Musgrove, who had sought Anne's hand himself, starts to accompany her home after she becomes ill from reading the proposal letter. When they encounter Wentworth, however, Charles requests that Wentworth escort Anne home, a gesture of transference that highlights her most appropriate walking and life partner. This final walk signifies the couple's unification and the maturation of their relationship: "They have moved, in a few heightened moments, from separate and secret yearnings to proud public acknowledgment of their future together" (Shields 169).

After all the years apart and through various obstacles, Anne and Wentworth's paths have met and are now conjoined. They walk into their new life in synch: the "two proceed[ed] together; and soon words enough had passed between them to decide their direction towards the comparatively quiet and retired gravel-walk" (240). Austen's use of the word "retired" also suggests a positive conclusion to Anne and Wentworth's walks, as they seclude themselves from the interfering bustle of society. Walking in Persuasion assists in the reawakening and development of Anne and Wentworth's romance by adjusting Anne to the lifestyle of constant movement she will experience as a sailor's wife, accentuating her strengths of mind and body as Wentworth's "'too excellent creature'" (237), confirming Louisa's corresponding insufficiency as a potential partner, and facilitating the couple's walk back to each other and forward toward a lifetime together. In the end, "[h]e walked by her side" (240).

Austen, Jane. Persuasion. Ed. R. W. Chapman. 3 rd ed. Oxford: OUP, 1969.

Curry, Mary Jane. "'Not a day went by without a solitary walk': Elizabeth's Pastoral World." Persuasions 22 (2000): 175-86.

Duckworth, Alistair M. "Nature." The Jane Austen Companion. Ed. J. David Grey, A. Walton Litz, and Brian Southam. New York: Macmillan, 1986. 317-19.

Gill, Richard, and Susan Gregory. Mastering the Novels of Jane Austen. New York: Palgrave, 2003.

Johnson, Claudia L. Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel. Chicago: UCP, 1988.

Litz, A. Walton. Jane Austen: A Study of Her Artistic Development. New York: Oxford UP, 1965.

MacDonagh, Oliver. Jane Austen: Real and Imagined Worlds. New Haven: Yale UP, 1991.

Palmer, Sally. "'I Prefer Walking': Jane Austen and 'The Pleasantest Part of the Day.'" Persuasions 23 (2001): 154-65.

Sherry, Norman. Jane Austen. New York: Arco, 1969.

Shields, Carol. Jane Austen. New York: Viking, 2001.

Sodeman, Melissa. "Domestic Mobility in Persuasion and Sanditon." Studies in English Literature 45 (2005): 787-812.

Spence, Jon. "The Abiding Possibilities of Nature in Persuasion." Studies in English Literature 21 (1981): 625-36.

Tanner, Tony. Jane Austen. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1986.

Source Citation

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Gale Literature Resource Center - Document - Walking a Path toward Marriage in

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(essay date winter 2007) In the following essay, Anderson and VonderBecke explore the significance of walking as a metaphor for love and marriage in Persuasion.] Jane Austen integrates walking into Persuasion to aid in the progression of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth's relationship.

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A Second Spring. Persuasion is Austen’s only work that engages love in later stages of life; Anne Elliot, at twenty-eight, nears the age of spinsterhood for a woman in her era and has “lost her bloom.” Her romance with Captain Wentworth commences in a “second spring,” years after they first fall in love and then fall out. Similarly, the characters of Captain Benwick, Mr. Elliot, and Mrs. Clay are all seeking a second love after the loss of their first fiancée, wife, and husband respectively. Admiral and Mrs. Croft are also one of the rare examples of an older couple with a model marriage in Austen’s work.
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/persuasion#context

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Austen's novels are famous for the way they seem to exist in a small, self-contained universe. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Austen's depiction of life in the tranquil English countryside takes place at the same time when England was fighting for its life against the threat of Napoleon, and all of Europe was embroiled in war and political chaos.
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/persuasion#context

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Jane Austen was the seventh child of the parish rector in the town of Steventon, where she and her family resided until moving to Bath in 1801. Though her parents were members of the English gentry, they remained relatively poor. Modest to a fault about the value of her work, Jane Austen nevertheless produced some of the enduring masterpieces of English literature, including the novels Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Persuasion. Her novels were published anonymously until after her death, when her authorship became known. While it was not unheard of for women to publish under their own names in Austen's lifetime, it was still a rarity. Despite the fact that her books focus on the intricate rituals of courtship and marriage among the British middle class, Austen herself remained single throughout her life, preferring the life of a writer over that of a wife and hostess.

This is Austen’s last novel. Austen wrote Persuasion while dying from what was possibly Addison’s disease; she finished alterations of its final chapters a year before her death. Some critics have drawn parallels between Austen’s own life situation as an unmarried “spinster” and that of her protagonist, Anne, and that there are glimpses of a sorrow about mortality that are attributable to the context of her illness in this last novel. Whatever the case, the novel does seem to possess a more elegiac and meditative tone than some of Austen’s earlier, spritely works such as Emma
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/persuasion#context

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                                                                Character Tree

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                                                                Character Tree

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https://www.litcharts.com/lit/persuasion/symbols/the-navy

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Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
Jane Eyre, an educated young woman without family, takes a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she becomes acquainted with Edward Rochester, the mysterious and abrupt master of the house, and his ward Adele. An aura of mystery pervades Thornfield, and when the source of the mystery is revealed, it takes all of Jane's stamina and spirit to resist the temptations and perils that suddenly threaten her.

Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1920)
In the aristocratic society of early twentieth century New York, in which social customs carry more weight than the law, Newland Archer prepares to marry May Welland, a beautiful, gentle, and socially unimpeachable young lady. When May's cousin Ellen Olenska returns to New York in the wake of a disastrous foreign marriage, however, Newland finds himself falling passionately in love with her.

Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003)
Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire fall in love and try to achieve a relationship of mutual trust and endurance after childhoods characterized by difficult family relationships. Their love is complicated by Henry's involuntary moving back and forth through time.

John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969)
Walking with his fiancée on the Cobb in Lyme, Charles Smithson meets the mysterious Sarah Woodruff, rumored by society to have been seduced and abandoned by a French naval officer. As Charles comes to know Sarah, he develops a passionate regard for her, while meanwhile beginning to question his engagement to his shallow fiancée and the overall direction that his life has taken.

Henry James, The Wings of the Dove (1902)
In London in the early twentieth century, Kate Croy and Merton Denscher have fallen in love, but because Denscher lacks money, they cannot marry. In a desperate attempt to remedy their situation, they contemplate the betrayal of a dying friend.

NoveList Book Discussion Guide