Written in her final illness, Persuasion is Jane Austen's finest novel Eight years ago Anne Elliot bowed to pressure from her family and made the decision not to marry the man she loved, Captain Wentworth. Now circumstances have conspired to bring him back into her social circle and Anne finds her old feelings for him reignited. However, when they meet again Wentworth behaves as if they are strangers and seems more interested in her friend Louisa. In her final novel, Jane Austen tells the story of a love that endures the tests of time and society with humor, insight, and tenderness. "I worship all of Austen's novels, but if I have to choose one over the others, I plump for the autumnal pleasures of Persuasion . . . . I read it once or twice a year, whenever I feel in need of a good cry."  —Zoe Heller, author, Notes on a Scandal "Everyone has their Austen, and this is mine. . . . This is a novel that tells us wisely and wittily about the nature of romantic entanglements and the follies of being human."  —Nigella Lawson, author, How to Be a Domestic Goddess Jane Austen  (1775-1817) is the author of  Emma , Mansfield Park , Northanger Abbey , Persuasion ,  Pride and Prejudice , and  Sense and Sensibility .