Persuasion

Credits and rights

Original writer

Jane Austen

Publisher of this edition

BoingyBooks Classics

Original publisher

Project Gutenberg

Adaptation credits

John Shoufler / BoingyBooks Classics — digital edition

Original source / edition

Persuasion (1817)

License

Public Domain

License link

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Rights and adaptation notice

This work is in the public domain. John Shoufler published this digital edition through BoingyBooks Classics. The original work remains public domain and may be copied, adapted, and shared.

Persuasion by Jane Austen (1817)

Austen's last completed novel and her most mature love story. Anne Elliot, persuaded at 19 to break her engagement to Captain Wentworth, meets him again eight years later — older, wiser, and still in love. A tender meditation on second chances and the constancy of true feeling.

Historical Significance:
Austen completed Persuasion in August 1816, while already suffering from the illness (likely Addison's disease) that would kill her in July 1817. Published posthumously in December 1817 alongside Northanger Abbey, with a biographical note by her brother Henry revealing her identity for the first time. Captain Wentworth's letter — "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope" — is considered one of the greatest love declarations in English literature.

This public domain classic was originally published posthumously in 1817. Free to read and share.