Persuasion Is an Autumn Book
I know it's April. But I reread Persuasion last weekend and couldn't stop thinking about how thoroughly autumnal it is: the walk to Winthrop, the hedgerows, Anne's sense that her best season has already passed.
It is the most grown-up of Austen's novels. Anne Elliot is twenty-seven, quiet, overlooked by her family, and still in love with the man she was persuaded to refuse eight years earlier. The book is about whether it's too late, and Austen's answer is kinder than you expect.
And then there is the letter. If you know, you know. If you don't, I envy you.