After eight years of heartache, can anyone love again?

Eight years ago, Anne Elliot was persuaded that her family's honor was more important than her own happiness. She has suffered ever since. Now the man she turned away has returned. Can Captain Wentworth forgive Anne, or will he be charmed instead by the beautiful Louisa? Will Anne be persuaded to marry her cousin, or will she find the strength to follow her heart? The extravagance of Anne's foolish father, the greedy plotting of false friends, and a near-fatal accident bring danger into Anne's safe world. Their hearts assailed by resentment, regrets and rivals, can Anne and Captain Wentworth now reach across the void that separates them to love each other again?

Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy development of primary and lower secondary age children while introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage. Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the world's greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.