A modern-day “Persuasion”

Jane Austen in Sarasota by Paula Marantz Cohen has the plot of Persuasion, with Anne Eliot transformed into Anne Ehrlich, a high school guidance counselor at a wealthy Westchester school. Having just gone through the college search and selection process, I found it absolutely hilarious. She is witty and insightful about the parent/child tensions and the ever-increasing pressures surrounding the decision of where to go and how to get in to college. The SAT tutor is particularly funny as is the character named Curtis Fink to whom parents pay thousands of dollars to ‘package’ their child for the elite schools. The actual plot device was really just a framework and not overly interesting, but Anne is very similar to the Anne, the sensible, strong-minded heroine revered by so many, and when you think of it, Anne Eliot was a kind of guidance counselor to all those around her. (The first scene at the Musgroves when each person traps Anne and complains to her about her sister Mary is priceless.)