‚Persuasion‘ is the last of six books by the legendary British author Jane Austen. It was written during the years 1815-16 and published posthumously in 1818.
In the story, we meet Anne Elliot, whose family is in crisis. Anne’s once-wealthy father - widowed for fourteen years – has fallen into financial ruin and the family is forced to rent their estate and move to more modest accommodations. What’s more, the family that moves in to the house is that of Captain Wentworth, who Anne rejected as a suitor years before due to his lack of prospects but who has now risen in the military ranks to become wealthy and prosperous. Anne, now twenty-seven, feels that she is past her prime and that her marriage prospects are dim.
What follows is a fascinating and intricate story of intrigue, romance and last-chance love that has made ‚Persuasion‘ one of the most celebrated and beloved works of fiction in literary history. It is presented here in its original and unabridged format.
Jane Austen’s ‚Persuasion‘ – a story of intrigue, romance and last-chance love- has become one of the most celebrated and beloved works of fiction in literary history.
Über den Autor
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist known best for her six major novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park. Jane was one of eight children born to the Rev. George Austen and Cassandra Leigh Austen. The family struggled financially for much of Jane’s life but she received a varied – if brief – education both privately and at a small boarding school before the financial strain of her education precluded her continued attendance. Once she returned from school, Jane rarely left her family home. From an early age, Jane wrote poetry and short fiction. She eventually expanded her writing into full-length novels and published four of them during her lifetime, all of them anonymously (as was the fashion for female writers at the time). These were: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815). They generated a small amount of interest and a smattering of positive reviews, but Austen was not recognized as the celebrated and groundbreaking author she is considered today while she was alive. Jane became ill in 1816 but apparently ignored the warning signs of whatever disease had gripped her. Some speculate she had lymphoma, others believe it was Addison’s disease. Whatever the cause, Jane’s health deteriorated and she died on July 18, 1817 at the age of 41. Following her death, her final two novels -Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published (both in 1818), but it was not until the mid-1800’s that her work began to gain in popularity. Jane Austen is now considered one of the world’s most beloved writers and her face has appeared on everything from postage stamps to British currency. In July, 2017, a statue of Jane was erected in Basingstoke, Hampshire on the 200th anniversary of her death.