Jane Austen’s last completed novel,PERSUASION is a delightful social satire of England’s landed gentry and a moving tale of lovers separated by class distinctions. After years apart, unmarried Anne Elliot, the heroine Jane Austen called "almost too good for me:’ encounters the dashing naval officer others persuaded her to reject, as he now courts the rash and younger Louisa Musgrove.Superbly drawn, these characters and those of Anne’s prideful father, Sir Walter, the scheming Mrs.Clay, and the duplicitous William Elliot, heir to Kellvnch Hall, become luminously alive--so much so that the poet Tennyson, visiting historic Lyme Regis, where a pivotal scene occurs, exclaimed: "Don’t talk to me of the Duke of Monmouth. Show me the exact spot where Louisa Musgrove fell!"Tender, almost grave, PERSUASION offers a glimpse into Jane Austen’s own heart while it magnificently displays the full maturity of her literary power.

Though the domain of Jane Austen’s novels was as circumscribed as her life, her caustic wit and keen observation made her the equal of the greatest novelists in any language. Born the seventh child of the rector of Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16, 1775,she was educated mainly at home. At an early age she began writing sketches and satires of popular novels for her family’s entertainment. As a clergyman’s daughter from a well-connected family, she had ample opportunity to study the habits of the middle class, the gentry, and the aristocracy. At twenty-one, she began a novel called "First Impressions," an early version of Pride and Prejudice. In 1801, on her father’s retirement, the family moved to the fashionable resort of Bath. Two years later she sold a first version of Northanger Abbey to a London publisher, but the first of her novels to appear was Sense and Sensibility,published at her own expense in 1811. It was followed by Pride and Prejudice [1813], Mansfield Park [1814],and Emma [1816].

After her father died in 1805, the family first moved to Southampton, then to Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Despite this relative retirement, Jane Austen was still in touch with a wider world, mainly through her brothers; one had become a rich country gentleman,another a London banker, and two were naval officers.Though her novels were published anonymously, she had many early and devoted readers, among them the Prince Regent and Sir Walter Scott. In 1816, in declining health, Austen wrote Persuasion and revised No#hanger Abbey. Her last work, Sand#on, was left unfinished at her death on July 18, 1817. She was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Austen’s identity as an author was announced to the world posthumously by her brother Henry, who supervised 1he publication of No#hanger Abbey and Persuasion in 1818.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24