At 27, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What happens when they encounter each other again?
This special edition of Persuasion includes the famous illustrations by Charles Edmond Brock, created in 1898. Brock and his brothers were all successful illustrators of the day and often posed for each other using costumes, props and furniture in their Cambridge studio. Brock’s younger brother, Henry, also illustrated Austen’s books and joined him in illustrating other Austen releases for this set of 1898 editions.
Persuasion was Austen’s last completed novel, published in 1816 and featuring a heroine who has rejected her true love when her family and friends discourage the match. When he reappears eight years later, having made his fortune, Anne Elliott must now decide whether she is strong-willed enough to decide for herself where her own best interests lie.
Eight years after rejected suitor Frederick Wentworth goes off to sea, Sir Elliott’s extravagance has forced his family into reduced circumstances. His daughter, twenty-seven year old Anne, no longer expects to marry, and has fond memories and somewhat stinging regrets about her decision to turn Frederick down at the urging of her family, who wanted her to aim higher. When Wentworth returns, having made his fortune, Anne is given a second chance at love, but she must be strong enough to think and decide for herself, then find a way to win him back.
Charlotte Arkendale knew all there was to know about men. After all, she'd made a career out of steering marriage-minded women away from untrustworthy members of the opposite sex.
Yet nothing could have prepared her for Baxter St. Ives--an arresting stranger too daring, too determined, too dangerous to be her new man-of-affairs. Still, perhaps he was the perfect person to help Charlotte investigate the recent murder of one of her clients. So she gave him a chance, never realizing that Baxter, a gifted scientist, would soon conduct a risky exploration into the alchemy of desire, with Charlotte as his subject.
But even as he sets out to seduce Charlotte, a twisted killer lies in wait, ready to part the lovers...or see them joined together forever--in death.
From the Paperback edition.
