Guest post written by Once Persuaded, Twice Shy author Melodie Edwards
Melodie Edwrds has a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto, a Master’s degree in communications from McMaster University and Syracuse University and studied comedy writing at the Second City Training Centre. Her writing has been featured in Writer’s Digest, G160 UK Theatre Festival, the Austin Film Festival Playwright Competition and the Hart House Drama Festival.
Releasing on February 27th 2024, Once Persuaded, Twice Shy is a modern reimagining of Persuasion and is full of witty banter, romantic angst, and compelling characters as it captures the heart of the classic Jane Austen novel.
What is the appeal of a second-chance romance? For many readers, it has no appeal at all – what’s appealing about revisiting a romantic failure, or trying to reverse the emotional damage of a devastating break up? Those tire tread marks on your heart aren’t scrubbing out.
But so many readers do love the trope. So, what’s the draw? It is the opportunity for all that delicious angst and pining? Is it the idea of the one who got away, turning into the one who committed to stay? How does it enhance that happily ever after that we want in our romance books?
When I first set out to write Once Persuaded, Twice Shy, as a modern reimagining of Jane Austen’s famous second-chance romance, Persuasion, I gave the topic a good long think. In the original book, Anne Elliot said goodbye to the handsome Wentworth at nineteen for a variety of reasons (a very mixed bag of sensible reasons and flimsy ones). Then some eight years later he’s back – what’s going to be different this time?
Well… nothing positive at first. Anne is older, and very firmly on the shelf, while Wentworth now has his pick of the women.
Poor past-her-prime Anne Elliot, the oldest of Austen’s heroines, and then please cue the eye rolls at the ridiculousness of Regency era ageism for women. On the shelf at age twenty-seven? What a farce. And besides, we know there’s no expiry date for experiencing romance.
But is it really about Anne’s age? While it’s true that Regency era women were expected to marry quite young, Jane Austen herself was twenty-seven when she received a marriage proposal (she initially said yes, and then changed her mind overnight and rejected him the next day, and by the way wouldn’t we all love to have more details on that story!) So, Austen writing Persuasion years later couldn’t have really believed that Anne Elliot at twenty-seven was past the age of catching anyone’s eye.
What always struck me when reading Persuasion was that, although Anne is considered too old at twenty-seven, doomed to the background of every scene while Wentworth flirts up a storm with others, Anne’s older sister Elizabeth, is still considered on the market and available at twenty-nine. To be fair, Elizabeth is not happy about her upcoming milestone birthday, and Austen writes that even though Elizabeth is fully confident she’s as gorgeous as ever, a proposal within the next twelve months wouldn’t be unwelcome – but this still begs the question, why can Elizabeth expect a proposal at thirty, and not Anne at twenty-seven?
Elizabeth Elliot has Pick Me Girl energy. Anne Elliot is a wallflower. That’s the only real difference. And I think Austen is having a laugh.
If you’re not familiar with the Pick Me Girl identity, the definitions can vary from the more misogynistic to the simply annoying. Personally, I think the Pick Me Girl is best encapsulated by the popular song from the musical Wicked “I’m Not That Girl.” It’s not just about beauty, it’s not just about how men see the Pick Me Girl, it’s about how the wallflower sees the Pick Me Girl, in contrast to herself.
Anne Elliot is off the market, because Anne Elliot believes it to be so.
And clever, wily, wise Jane Austen knows this.
Fast forward a dozen or so chapters when the magical properties of sea air puts color back in Anne’s cheek and she can return the admiring glance of a handsome stranger passing by – this is the Austen equivalent to getting a confidence-boosting blowout and smiling at someone at a party – and Anne is back in the game. She’s not magically transformed into a Pick Me Girl, she’ll always be a little quieter, a little more introverted, but she’s stopped relegating herself to the sidelines to make way for other bolder contenders for Wentworth’s heart.
But this all brings me back to the original question – what’s different this time around?
Well as it turns out, Wentworth really wasn’t distracted by those lovely other ladies, he’s still pining for Anne. And of course, Anne is still pining for him.
And – ah! – now we’ve located the appeal of the second-chance romance. A love with no encouragement, no contact with the other person, and it’s persisted, steady and strong, for eight long years? That’s something worth saving (and savoring for the length of a whole novel).
And as they put their romance back together, that age thing that Austen had us believe was a problem, she suddenly shows to be a positive – both Anne and Wentworth are more confident in their own identities, their knowledge of each other, and the strength of their relationship this time around. They’ve had personal growth, matured, and the obstacles that hobbled their romance from before, now seem laughably insignificant. Want a happily ever after that we know is guaranteed to last beyond the final page of the book? You’ve got it in Persuasion – we absolutely know these two aren’t going to screw things up again.
