I will never forget the exquisite agony of reading The Letter for the first time. My reaction was much like yours: stunned awe, reminder to self to begin breathing again, reread The Letter. (Go to Pemberley.com and immediately begin gushing on the Persuasion board!). I believe I reread the final chapters at least 5 times that day, and then turned back to page one and immediately began rereading the entire book! I still read The Letter itself on a regular basis, just for the sheer poetry of it. (And guess who will be ordering The Letter refrigerator magnet??)

"Not to be soon recovered from"--I still haven't recovered, and it's been a few years. I'm quite positive that Anne will never dispose of that letter! Can you imagine what their children will feel when they come across it after their parents' passing?

This is the final treat that makes Persuasion my favorite book. So much longing passion, desperation, and so much honest heart-on-my-sleeve emotion--everything that cold, reserved Mr. Elliot is not. (I feel rather ashamed to even write of CW and WE in the same sentence--it seems a sacrilige.)