Persuasion

Eight years after Anne Elliot was persuaded to end her engagement to the ambitious naval officer Frederick Wentworth, her indebted family lets Kellynch Hall and moves to Bath. Wentworth returns from the Napoleonic Wars with rank, confidence and prize money, forcing Anne to confront the consequences of her earlier choice.

Their renewed acquaintance unfolds among naval families at Lyme and the status-conscious society of Bath. The novel contrasts inherited position with professional achievement while treating constancy, regret and second chances with greater emotional restraint than Austen’s earlier courtship plots.