Persuasion

The last novel completed by Jane Austen, written a year before her death, Persuasion follows the story of the Elliot family – Sir Walter and his three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne and Mary.

After the death of his wife, Sir Walter begins to slowly lose control of the expenses of the lavish life he leads, eventually having to give up his usual lifestyle. With these very high expenses and two daughters still unmarried, Sir Elliot is advised to rent out the Kellynch estate; he moves to Bath, together with Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, while Anne, the middle daughter, remains for a while in the village of Kellynch, with the family friend, Lady Russell, visiting her and spending time with his younger sister, Mary, the only one of all: married and the mother of two children. Admiral Croft and his wife, tenants of the Elliot family estate, quickly move to Kellynch, and the lives of those still remaining in the area suddenly become more interesting, increasing visits and curiosity.

Anne soon learns that Admiral Croft's wife is the sister of Captain Wentworth, the man she had become engaged to seven years earlier and whom she had then left to please her family.

Accurately presenting the lives of the characters who belong mainly to the small rural nobility, the novel emphasizes the social condition of women, while also criticizing the standards of the social class system.