The Real Persuasion: Portrait of a Real-Life Austen Heroine

2017 | Biography

Her father is a vain, foolish baronet, obsessed with his lineage but forced to quit his ancestral seat as a result of his own improvidence. Her sister is a fretful invalid with a good-natured husband and two disobedient sons. She herself falls in love with a handsome naval officer, and he with her, but his income and prospects are judged inadequate by her proud family. Heartbroken, the lovers part: he goes to sea while she leads a forlorn life at home. Years later he returns, having made a fortune in prize money, and after further misunderstandings he claims as his bride the woman he has never ceased to love. This is the story of Anne Elliot in Jane Austen's 'Persuasion'. It is also the story, true this time, of Katherine Bisshopp, the enchanting daughter of an old Sussex family. To be sure, Katherine's sister Harriet is a more intelligent and likeable woman than Mary Musgrove, but along with invalidism and unruly children she shares her fictional counterpart's tendency to make the most of her poor health and claim the attention of her sister whenever she is ill.

Using the sisters' letters and journals, as well as other family correspondence, Peter James Bowman paints an intimate picture of life in a Regency family, and looks at the remarkable parallels between the true story of the Bisshopps and the fictional narrative of Jane Austen's final novel. Whether their subject is daily life at the Bisshopps' family seat of Parham; the social round in London, Brighton and elsewhere; or Katherine's eleven-year courtship with George Pechell, the writers of these hitherto unpublished documents are brought to life through their own unaffected language, charmingly evocative of its time, and the author's engaging insight into life in Jane Austen's era.

Peter James Bowman (Author)