Synopsis
It is 1806, and the Napoleonic wars are ravaging Europe. Frederick Wentworth, a brilliant young man with a flourishing career in the navy, is spending his shore leave in Somerset, where he meets and falls in love with Anne Elliot. The two become engaged, but Anne's godmother persuades Anne to change her mind, leaving Wentworth to go back to sea a bitter and disappointed man.
Eight years pass, and peace is declared. Wentworth is no longer a young man with his way to make in the world, but a seasoned captain with a fortune at his disposal. He is ready to marry anyone with a little beauty who pays a few compliments to the navy - or so he says - until he sees Anne. Anne's bloom has faded, yet she has the same sensibilities and superior mind she had eight years earlier, and before he knows it, he is falling in love with her all over again.
Can there be a happy outcome for them this time around, or have they lost their chance of love forever?
Persuasion is one of my favourite books, but I have often wondered what happened the first time Anne and Wentworth met, in 1806. Where did they meet? How did it happen? Was it at a ball, at dinner, or on a picnic or in the village? What did they think of each other? And what exactly happened?
When I came to write Captain Wentworth's Diary, I decided to try and answer those questions by writing what is in effect a prequel to Persuasion as the first part of Captain Wentworth's Diary. I'm really looking forward to finding out what readers think of it!
I'll be adding more to this section of my website nearer the time of the June 2007 release date, including an extract from the prequel.
Meanwhile, here is a taster. This extract takes place in 1814. Captain Wentworth has returned to Uppercross and is thinking about his forthcoming meeting with Anne, which will be the first time he has seen her in eight years.
All too soon it was time for me to take my leave of the Musgroves. Buoyed up by an evening spent in the company of such pretty, spirited girls and their convivial family, I returned to Kellynch Hall.
As I walked up the drive, I found my thoughts straying to Anne once again, and thinking how strange it was that my brother-in-law should have rented Kellynch Hall. Of all the houses in Somersetshire, why did he have to rent that one? A place that held so many memories? And a place that would bring me into company with Anne? It was only by chance that I had not already met her, for if not for the child's fall, she would have been at the Great House and I would have passed the evening in her company.
As I remembered the past, I felt a spark of anger for her vacillating character, and an ache of bruised pride at the way she had treated me. And then I calmed myself. I knew I would have to accustom myself to seeing her, for we would often be together, and it would not do for me to let any trace of resentment show. I made up my mind not to mention the past, and I decided that I would treat her with perfect good humour, simply as a woman I once knew.
But even so, I could not help my thoughts dwelling on her as I went inside. Anne Elliot, I thought, after so many years.
Anne Elliot.
Captain Wentworth's Diary is available to pre-order now from Amazon by clicking here
Have you tried Mr Darcy's Diary? For more details, click here
And Mr Knightley's Diary? For more details, click here
