Persuasion - (Vintage Classics) by Jane Austen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Of all Jane Austen's great and delightful novels, Persuasion--the story of a second chance at true love--is widely regarded as the most moving.

Anne Elliot, daughter of the snobbish Sir Walter Elliot, is woman of quiet charm and deep feelings. When she was nineteen she fell in love with--and was engaged to--a naval officer, the fearless and headstrong Captain Wentworth. But the young man had no fortune, and Anne allowed herself to be persuaded to give him up.

Now, eight years later, Wentworth has returned to the neighborhood, a rich man and still unwed. Anne's never-diminished love is muffled by her pride, and he seems cold and unforgiving.

What happens as the two are thrown together in the social world of Bath--and as an eager new suitor appears for Anne--is touchingly and wittily told in Persuasion, a masterpiece that is also one of the most entrancing novels in the English language.

Review Quotes

"Critics, especially [recently], value Persuasion highly, as the author's 'most deeply felt fiction, ' 'the novel which in the end the experienced reader of Jane Austen puts at the head of the list....' Anne wins back Wentworth and wins over the reader; we may, like him, end up thinking Anne's character 'perfection itself.'" -from the Introduction by Judith Terry

About the Author

JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817) was born in Hampshire, England, where she spent most of her life. Though she received little recognition in her lifetime, she came to be regarded as one of the great masters of the English novel.