When the personable Captain Wentworth reappears in Anne Elliot’s life several years after she had been persuaded to break off their engagement, he makes no secret of his angry indignation but, as they come to know each other again, their feelings are rekindled. There are many obstacles in their path, however, amongst them Anne’s egotistical, snobbish father, Sir Walter and his heir, the duplicitous Wiliam Elliot. Jane Austen’s last completed novel sees her usual deft social comedy threaded with a more serious note. A love story of second chances and reconciliation, Janet Suzman expresses both wit and tenderness in this BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour reading.
