This Top Five Classics illustrated edition of Jane Austen' s Persuasion features: 30 full-color illustrations by Charles E. Brock an informative Introduction a detailed Biography and Bibliography Originally published in December 1817, just five months after Jane Austen died at the age of 41, Persuasion was her last completed novel. Released with Northanger Abbey as a four-volume set, its publication marked the first time Austen was acknowledged as the author of these and her previous four novels. Persuasion begins eight years after Anne Elliot' s love affair was thwarted by her well-meaning mentor, Lady Russell. Now Anne must endure being thrust into company with her former fiancé , as he courts another, younger woman. Persuasion is not only one of Austen' s most popular novels, it is her most mature.