Other editions of book Persuasion

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816. She died, aged 41, in 1817; Persuasion was published in December that year (but dated 1818). Persuasion is linked to Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable city with which Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805. Besides the theme of persuasion, the novel evokes other topics, such as the Royal Navy, in which two of Jane Austen's brothers ultimately rose to the rank of admiral. As in Northanger Abbey, the superficial social life of Bath-well known to Austen, who spent several relatively unhappy and unproductive years there-is portrayed extensively and serves as a setting for the second half of the book. In many respects Persuasion marks a break with Austen's previous works, both in the more biting, even irritable satire directed at some of the novel's characters and in the regretful, resigned outlook of its otherwise admirable heroine, Anne Elliot, in the first part of the story. Against this is set the energy and appeal of the Royal Navy, which symbolises for Anne and the reader the possibility of a more outgoing, engaged, and fulfilling life, and it is this worldview which triumphs for the most part at the end of the novel.

'Persuasion' was Jane Austen's last novel, and certainly her most romantic in tone. She uses the story of Anne Elliot - forced by social convention to give up the man she dearly loved - to cast a critical and often satirical eye upon the manners and mores of middle-class English society during the early 1800s, with her most pointed barbs reserved for the canting, narrow-minded 'landed gentry'. Austen's witty, ironic portrayal of life in this restrictive and restricting society has enthralled generations of readers and earned her a place among the great names of English literature.

Anne Elliot lives at Kellynch Hall with her two sisters and vain father Sir Walter. When financial struggles begin to affect the Elliot family, they decide to move to Bath. Anne decides to visit before the move, and runs into many old friends. Most surprisingly she is reunited with Fredrick Wentworth, a past fiancé who under advice from her father and friend Lady Russell never married. Wentworth's lack of wealth and rank in the community were their main concerns and therefore eight years later Anne is still unmarried with little romantic prospects. However, through her journey and move, Anne may find that what she has been looking for was right in front of her the whole time.

Jane Austen's final novel is the story of Anne Elliot, a woman who gets a second chance. As a teenager she becomes engaged to a man who seems perfect for her, Frederick Wentworth. But she is persuaded to break the engagement off by her friend Lady Russell, who believes that he is too poor to be a suitable match. The episode plunges Anne into a period of bleak disappointment. Eight years later, Frederick returns from the Napoleonic Wars flushed with success. Anne's circumstances have also changed; her father's spendthrift ways mean he has been forced to lease the family home to a naval family. Will Anne and Frederick rediscover their love? Can their changed fortunes inhibit their feelings? Persuasion is a story of self-knowledge and personal regeneration, of social change and emotional politics. It is Austen's most mature work, and also her most wickedly satirical.

Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth exemplify the country gentry in Regency England in Jane Austen's endearing tale.Anne Elliot is a young woman of perfect breeding and unwavering integrity. Seven years after she is persuaded to reject Captain Wentworth's offer of marriage, her feelings for him are still strong. By the time she realizes this, Wentworth seems to only have eyes for the attractive, though flighty, Louisa Musgrove.Set against the world of the country gentry in Regency England, Persuasion critically portrays the many aspects of proper society―its failings and humor―as well as presenting a tender story of determination and enduring love.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.' Written at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Persuasion is a tale of love, heartache and the determination of one woman as she strives to reignite a lost love. Anne Elliot is persuaded by her friends and family to reject a marriage proposal from Captain Wentworth because he lacks in fortune and rank. More than seven years later, when he returns home from the Navy, Anne realises she still has strong feelings for him, but Wentworth only appears to have eyes for a friend of Anne's. Moving, tender, but intrinsically 'Austen' in style, with it's satirical portrayal of the vanity of society in eighteenth-century England, Persuasion celebrates enduring love and hope.

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died unmarried in her early forties. The daughter of a rector, she lived a comfortable upper middle-class life which was made eventful only through her active imagination. In PERSUASION, the book's heroine, Anne Elliot, was earlier engaged to Frederick Wentworth, a young naval officer, now become a captain. Anne is 27, and the early bloom of youth is past when she and Captain Wentworth are thrown together again. This book is often thought to be the story of Jane Austen's own lost love. In it, she seems mellowed and more philosophical, touched perhaps by the sentiment of a story in which she saw herself as heroine but in whose happy outcome she had a premonition that she would never play a part.