Persuasion has always been among the most popular of Jane Austen’s novels.

It was also to be her last.

Eight years before the tale begins, Anne Elliot is happily engaged to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth.

The twenty-seven-year old impulsively breaks off her engagement when convinced by her friend Lady Russell that such a match would be considered dishonorable.

The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret.

Years later, Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, to finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in the Elliot estate.

Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?

Published in hundreds of editions and translated into virtually every modern language, it has not been out of print since 1818.

JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817), one of the greatest English authors, transformed the art of fiction. Author of numerous novels, including Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility, she is considered to be a central figure in the development of the modern novel.