Presenting “Captain Wentworth in His Own Words”

Captain Wentworth has a lot of explaining to do! Why did he fly off in such an unreasonable rage when Anne tried to put their engagement on hold? And why didn’t he come back to try her again as soon as he was more financially secure? So much time wasted! What about his bad behavior when they met again years later – flirting with the Musgrove girls right in front of Anne? Was that really necessary?

Find the answers in Captain Wentworth in His Own Words. Catch a glimpse of his difficult childhood, and learn how he ended up in the Navy so young. Witness his first meeting with Anne, their falling in love, and tragic parting. Sail along on his daring adventures at sea. Before he meets Anne again, Captain Wentworth has travelled the globe. He’s risen to riches and respect. Yet, he’s still missing the one thing needed to crown all his other success: the woman he’s never stopped loving.

This is not a variation from but a supplement to the original story of Persuasion, chronicled in Wentworth’s point of view. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the things Jane Austen didn’t tell us about one of her most iconic heroes.

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This project really began November 14th, 2023, with a “Tuesday Trivia Discussion” on the Austen Variations Facebook page. I asked what you wanted to know about Captain Wentworth, and I took note of your answers! Laura Nichols wanted to read about his adventures in the Navy. Christy Hulsz wanted to know how he met Anne in the first place. Shannon Henderson  was interested in his family background. Kristin Jennings wanted the time between their breakup and reunion filled in.  Michelle Whitby wondered how he felt about his sister renting Anne’s family home. Angela Dale asked if he’d had any love interests before Anne. And many others echoed these ideas and added their own.

I thank you ALL for your input! To the best of my ability, with Captain Wentworth in His Own Words, I’ve answered all your questions, filled in all those blanks, to create a complete story of his life up to, through, and slightly beyond his reunion and marriage to Anne.

Now the book that you helped to write is finished and ready to read! It’s available HERE in Kindle and paperback formats so far. The audiobook is already in production too, I’m delighted to say. To get you started, though, here’s the Prologue:

December, 1814

I am not insensible to the irony of my situation – that I am caught fast in a trap of my own making. Meaning to punish one who I am now convinced did not deserve the half part of my censure, the due penalty has fallen upon my own head. There is a perverse sort of poetic justice in that, and surely somewhere my enemies are laughing. But it is no more than I deserve.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…

It is so very true of me. I have been used to the gratification of believing myself to have earned every blessing I enjoy. I have valued myself on honorable toils and just rewards. Well, here is a just reward indeed. Due to my own folly, I am bound by honor to wed a woman I do not care for, whilst knowing myself divided forever from the one I love to the depths of my soul. May God forgive me!

I have only one choice before me, only one path ahead. I must do what any man of integrity would in my situation; I must do my duty.

I try to become reconciled to this fact as I walk and ride the environs surrounding Lyme with a kind of furious desperation, driven on by emotions I do not fully comprehend. There is more anger in me than anything else, I believe, directed primarily at myself. And regret deep enough to drown a man. There is also determination, however – determination to get the better of this thing, to regain mastery of myself, to reestablish a measure of control and calm.

My only hope – and it is a slim one at best – is that I should be immediately called to sea again. Under no other circumstances could I honorably leave Lyme at present, not until I know Louisa will recover. And likely not even then. Yet I cannot bear to stand by idle either. Were I to do nothing but hover day after day at the Harvilles’ house, waiting in awful anticipation for any slight change in her situation for better or for worse, I should go mad. So I make a brief appearance there every morning and evening to enquire after the fair invalid. Otherwise, I stay away.

Louisa is an innocent. She must never know the truth. She must never guess that my presumed courtship of her was all a careless game designed to make Anne Elliot jealous, to pay back some of the pain and offense she gave me years ago. No, Louisa must never suspect that my seeming to prefer her over all others was a lie. I have acted it so well as to be believed by everybody, even by myself for a time. And I must go right on pretending. Only in this way can I purge myself of some of my guilt. I must be the model husband. I must make my wife happy and affect being happy myself. I have successfully played a part to her for these few weeks past, but can I do it for thirty years? That is a different matter.

And what of Anne? I have little doubt that I have injured her, as I had intended to do. To what degree, I know not. I suppose it largely depends on any lingering feelings she may still harbor for me. There have been those occasional looks between us, those particular words that went very far towards seeming to restore the sentiments of the past. But then the accident occurred and everything, all such considerations, were entirely at an end.

Oh, how I wish I could make her some amends! How I wish I could tell Anne my true feelings – that though I have been weak and resentful, though I have cruelly courted the attentions of another in front of her face, I was never inconstant to her in my heart. I have loved none but her.

To impose such knowledge upon her now, though, would be the height of selfishness.

I am a selfish creature, however! And here is proof. Even though the situation is hopeless, I want to know that she still cares for me. I want to know she has remained unmarried at least in part out of some remembrance of what we once were to each other. I want to know she will be grieved by my marriage to Louisa Musgrove when it occurs. I suppose I want to know that I will not bear the pain alone.

Of these feelings, I must repent, however. I do repent. And I resolve to daily pray that Anne will suffer no more – for my cruelty, for her family’s disregard, or for any other reason. I resolve to sincerely desire Anne’s peace and happiness… even if that means she will find them in the arms of another man. This I swear, and may God help me.

So there you have it! Are you intrigued so far? Are you ready for more? No more waiting. Get the rest of Captain Wentworth’s story now at Amazon! I hope you enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.