At 27, Anne Elliot is over the hill—at least, that’s what her father thinks. The heroine of Persuasion “had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early,” the narrator tells us, by way of introduction to Sir Walter Elliot’s middle daughter. But that description, though it masquerades as impartial, actually channels Sir Walter’s perception, and by the end of the novel, having spent much time in Anne’s excellent company, we are not surprised to discover that her charms are in full effect.
To play Anne Elliot is to play a woman who possesses confidence, intelligence, and, yes, beauty, but who has no one around her discerning enough to reliably appreciate those qualities. Dakota Johnson, in this summer’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, brilliantly channels that sense of separation from her fellow characters. Instead, she connects with us, her audience. Her knowing look is everything. You can see that look on our cover as well, captured by Ryan McGinley. Dakota’s self-possession shines through in Britt Hennemuth’s cover story; to be in her company is a delight, because it means you get to be in on the joke. Happily, in the real world, appreciation for her talent is in full swing: for her work onscreen, and as a producer, an investor, and a muse.
To me, there are few greater escapes than an Austen novel, but you’ll find plenty of alternative getaways in our Summer Issue (a European art crawl! the new Dior house museum!), as well as scandals stranger and truer than fiction. Evgenia Peretz unravels the tangled web woven by a Grey’s Anatomy writer named Elisabeth Finch, who sources say fabricated personal trauma for the sake of dominating the writers room and beyond. Anna Peele explores the return of the British reality show Love Island after a series of tragic events. Kathleen Hale reconstructs the mystery that captivated online sleuths last summer—the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito—through an investigative method peculiarly suited to the would-be influencer’s way of life.
In politics, Willem Marx reports from London, where the Ukraine invasion has put financial ties between Conservative Party members and Russian expatriate elites under a microscope. Rita Omokha visits Val Demings, the former chief of the Orlando Police Department, who is running against Marco Rubio to help Democrats hold on to the Senate. And Jeff Sharlet follows the trail of Ashli Babbitt—not the woman, but the symbol—across the United States, finding division and paranoia in her wake.