Persuasion

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. Al the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?

Jane Austin once compared her writing to painting on a little bit of ivory, 2 inches square. Readers of Persuasion will discover that neither her skill for delicate, ironic observations on social custom, love, and marriage nor her ability to apply a sharp focus lens to English manners and morals has deserted her in her final finished work.

SYNOPSIS

Called a 'perfect novel' by Harold Bloom, Persuasion was written while Jane Austen was in failing health. She died soon after its completion, and it was published in an edition with Northanger Abbey in 1818.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Austen is the hot property of the entertainment world with new feature film versions of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility on the silver screen and Pride and Prejudice hitting the TV airwaves on PBS. Such high visibility will inevitably draw renewed interest in the original source materials. These new Modern Library editions offer quality hardcovers at affordable prices.

AudioFile - Jane K. Riff

PERSUASION is perfectly rendered in polished, English diction by Scacchi. When Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth reunite after the passage of irrecoverable youth, we feel their passion and regret over lost years. Scacchi expresses this with subtle, sympathetic tones, allowing us to experience the wonderful written language. Descriptions of an English seaside town provide the backdrop for this love story. Altogether, the audio experience is superb! J.K.R. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner. �AudioFile, Portland, Maine

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Linda Bree has done a marvelous job in this superb new edition of Persuasion. The searching introduction, the informative notes, and most of all the illuminating selection of contextual material make Austen's well-known masterpiece come alive as a compelling and unsettling new text. . . An impressive and admirable achievement. (Linda Bree edition) — Claudia L. Johnson