Persuasion is the story of twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot who was once happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell. The breakup produces a deep and long-lasting regret in Anne. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne"s family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her plots are fundamentally comic and highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.