"I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives." "Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything." Persuasion (1817) by Jane Austen is a classic known for the remarkable depiction of its mature heroine, Anne Elliot. She is a 27-year-old woman whose engagement was broken off with Captain Frederick Wentworth seven years ago. When Anne's family lets Kellynch Hall to Wentworth's sister, Sophia and her husband, Anne and Wentworth encounter each other once again and their lives take unexpected turns.