Sunday is my first Mother's Day without Mom.
Yesterday I went into a card store to get missives for my sister, two of my sisters-in-law, and an aunt and nearly broke down in sobs because I could not buy a card for my Mom.
Stressful day.
So I needed a Jane fix. And not just any Jane Austen novel but my favorite, Persuasion.
I still remember the first time I read this book, taking an old copy from the Howe Library in Hanover. The book was tiny, a mere 5 x 8 with a hardcover and type probably only in the 10 point range.
This book, Jane Austen's last novel, is shorter than her more famous creations, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. And in that size, I could hold the book in one hand while laying on my side in bed to read.
I'm not absolutely sure why this one is my favorite except that it has a poignancy that her other books don't have. Anne, our heroine, is older than Jane's other leading ladies—not as sharp-tongued as Elizabeth Bennett, not as openly passionate as Marianne Dashwood but definitely as reserved and as sensible at Marianne's sister Elinor.
Maybe it's because Anne, in so many ways, is so alone in her own family and I feel for her loneliness. Or maybe it's because I love to laugh at Anne's father and sister Elizabeth who are so fooled when Anne is so clear-eyed.
Or maybe it's just that everything comes so right in the end.
In any case, Persuasion is my great comfort food of a book. And while I'm missing my Mom and Dad so much, it's nice to let Jane take care of my heart for a while. Because, in the end, Anne will reunite with her Frederick and the world will be right as rain again.
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