“I hope you can live with yourself, Anne, when you look back on this moment.”
After years of mismanagement, Kellynch Bookstore is in danger of closing down. Though Anne has offered many possible improvements, no one acknowledges that she exists. Instead, her father and sister hire Croft Business Consultants to revive the store. To Anne’s horror, the team is being led by none other than Fred Wentworth…and he’s still furious that she let her aunt persuade her not to marry him. To add insult to injury, he gets a front row seat to the poor treatment she gets from her family on top of being completely ignored by him. While it hurts, Anne accepts his punishment for her and does her best to hold everything together for the store.
But when a friend is rushed to the hospital, something changes between them. Fred begins to seek Anne’s company and old feelings resurface. The more time they spend together, the more Anne thinks that she isn’t the only one who would like to rekindle what they once shared.
Maybe, after all of these years, the timing will finally be right for them.
This is a delightful modern Persuasion adaptation. I assume it is the first in a series, seeing as Lizzie and Jane Bennet, Emma, Fanny Price and Catherine Morland are all characters in this book. I look forward to the rest of the series. Persuasion can be a bit hard to modernize sometimes, but the set up to make Anne the person she is takes care of any anomalies. I won't put in any spoilers, but will just say it is very clearly Persuasion, it moves quickly and is enjoyable. Every now and then you want to shake Anne, but that is normal.