Persuaded

Captain Wentworth: I come on business, Sir Walter.
Sir Walter Elliot: Business?
Captain Wentworth: Yes, my proposal of marriage to your daughter, Anne, has been accepted and I respectfully, sir, request permission to set a date.
Sir Walter Elliot: Anne? You want to marry Anne? Whatever for?

Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen book now; it has replaced Pride and Prejudice forever. The contrastingly unfeeling Lizzy and Darcy have no chance besides Anne and Wentworth.

To explain: I have just recently finished reading P&P, and expected to get at least a little bit gripped by the story. Sure, I've watched it that many times, and probably read the book too much, but good books should always grip you. It was disappointingly flat, tragically hollow. Since that moment P&P lost some of its lustre and appeal.
Elizabeth, though still one of my favourite heroines, had no excellent reason for marrying Mr. Darcy, except that he was handsome, got around on perfectly groomed horses, always looked gloomily out of the window, never talked, was always offending someone, went and saved Lydia from a dire situation, had an amazing house by a lake, and ten thousand pounds a year.

He's your typical dark, melancholy hero with the good looks, who annoys and aggravates the heroine until close to the end of your story, when he does something utterly fantastic and the heroine swoons pathetically into his arms.
How sweet.

And Lizzy. Well, she's harder to be mean about because she really is the perfect heroine. She does all the right things: says witty sayings at all the right times, is not afraid of the formidable Lady Catherine, challenges the dark and gloomy Darcy, refuses to ever dance with him, then dances with him, meets the gentleman at his own house while making a tour of it, accepts the hero's proposal precisely when she ought to.

But Anne and Wentworth! Excitement.
Picture this: A young couple, one of them with good prospects in the navy, the other nineteen years of age, sweet, pretty, with a good strong mind, capable of thinking correctly and deciding appropriately. They want to get married, and explain the proposition to the girl's baronet father. The father is outraged, and the girl's friend advises against it. The girl is persuaded to break off the engagement. The young man goes off in a huff, with a broken heart and wounded feelings. He nurses a bitter resentment towards the girl, the girl's friend and her family throughout his years of service and promotion.


He comes back to England; the war is over. The girl is older now, eight and a half years have gone by, and her bloom is gone. He meets up with her, is astonished by the change. The rest of the story is devoted to what happens when he gets back, how he overcomes his resentment, and whether or not Anne will marry the dashing (Wickham-like) Mr. Elliot who plagues the pages of the second half of the book.
It is a gripping read. I've never read an Austen that has made me want to know what happens next, like I did when I read Persuasion.

Do you have a favourite Jane Austen book? Why is it your favourite, and do you agree with me that Anne and Wentworth have more going for them than Lizzy and Darcy?