Read this when
Persuasion
Eight years later, still thinking about the one you let go? Wentworth wrote 'I am half agony, half hope.' Same. 💌
Who it's for
Anne Elliot is 27, overlooked by her vain father and sisters, and still grieving the engagement she was persuaded to break eight years earlier.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Jane Austen's final completed novel, published posthumously in 1817, follows Anne Elliot, 27, who eight years earlier was persuaded to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth because of his uncertain prospects. Wentworth now returns as a wealthy naval captain, and the two meet again in overlapping social circles while he appears to court Louisa Musgrove.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US; free on Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, with free LibriVox audiobooks. Also widely in print (Penguin Classics, Oxford World's Classics and others), in libraries (Libby/.
Before you start
Heads up: A serious head injury from a fall.
Age: Ages 12+
Release me from my unfulfilled past clinging to me from behind making death difficult.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 325
