Captain Wentworth’s Diary by Amanda Grange

Sigh…(of happiness). Captain Wentworth’s Diary by Amanda Grange left me feeling as if all is right with the world.

First, a disclaimer: Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen novel, and Captain Wentworth from Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen hero. As you might expect, Anne Elliott from Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen heroine. To re-visit their story in Captain Wentworth’s Diary was an unexpected pleasure.

In my opinion, Persuasion is the ultimate romance novel.

The plot summary of Persuasion is as follows. The major characters meet, and fall in love, only to be separated by reasons beyond their control. Now, pay attention to the next sentence everyone, because this is the reason why Persuasion is so wonderful. The separated lovers do not stop loving each other. They meet again, many years later, and after a series of misunderstandings, re-unite. At the end of the book you just know they are going to live happily ever after.

Captain Wentworth’s Diary tells of how he and Anne Elliott first met and fell in love, and is told via Frederick’s diary entries. Persuasion, by Jane Austen is told through Anne Elliott’s eyes and Anne and Frederick have already parted by the beginning of the story.

Frederick’s diary entries show him to be young and girl crazy, a sailor on shore leave who has his money burning a hole in his pockets. The reader knows Frederick will become a good  and successful man, as he is kind and straightforward, and most importantly values Anne, who is not treated with love or respect by her father and sister. Anne is clever and funny and pretty blossoms with Frederick’s attentions. During his visit to Somerset, she and Frederick become friends and eventually fall in love.

Despite agreeing to marry Frederick, Anne is persuaded by a family friend to break her engagement, so as not to hold him back in his career. There is also an element of snobbery in Anne’s friend’s advice not to marry him, as Anne is a Baronet’s daughter, and her friend believes Anne could do better for herself than a sailor.

When they part, Frederick, who is heartbroken and bitter, goes back to the Navy to make his fortune during the Napoleonic Wars. At this point in the story, Captain Wentworth’s Diary merges with Persuasion. Frederick returns eight years later as a rich man to Somerset, where he meets Anne again. Despite recognising that he still loves Anne, Frederick flirts with and considers marrying other girls. The girl he favours is headstrong, a characteristic Frederick believes is important, in light of Anne having been persuaded not to marry him. Frederick is compromised by the girl he has been flirting with and thinks he will have to marry her, but luckily for him she falls in love with someone else.

The next obstacle to Anne and Frederick’s happy ending is Frederick’s belief that Anne is to marry her cousin, who is to inherit the Baronetcy on her father’s death.

Frederick and Anne’s eventual realisation that they still love each other, have always loved each other and that they should have fought harder for each other in the beginning is satisfying but bittersweet.

Based on my enjoyment of Captain Wentworth’s Diary I will read more books by Amanda Grange and I would highly recommend this book to fellow Janeites.