Nigella Lawson is well known for sharing her luxurious food recipes with the world through the television screen. However, she was once a book reviewer. Now the TV chef has revealed her favourite book and it is a period classic from 1817. The celebrity named as her favourite book Jane Austen’s Persuasion – and described it as “savage”.
Persuasion was Austen’s last novel, published alongside Northanger Abbey in 1817, six months after her death. Lawson said of the book: “Everyone has their Austen, and this is mine. Sparer, more savage – and also more poignant than Pride and Prejudice, this is a novel that tells us wisely and wittily about the nature of romantic entanglements and the follies of being human.”
She added: “It isn’t riven with the deep, muscular ironies of, say, Emma, but there is something about the dry lightness of Persuasion that is deceptive. It stays with you long after you’ve read it.”
The book’s synopsis reads: “Persuasion tells the story of Anne Elliot, who eight years prior to the start of the novel, was persuaded to break off her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth due to his lack of fortune and social standing. When Captain Wentworth returns, having gained wealth and status, Anne must confront her lingering feelings and decide if she will pursue a second chance at love with him, or if she will let her past regrets define her future.”
Persuasion is not often named by readers as the favoured Austen book, with most opting for Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibilty.
According to Penguin Books, Lawson particularly appreciates the novel’s autumnal atmosphere as well as its focus on the heroine, Anne Elliot, who she sees as a representation of Austen herself.
The book has been the subject of several adaptations, including four TV adaptations, many theatre productions and radio broadcasts, among other literary works.