Jane Austen is no stranger to the art of romantic fiction - it's the reason why she's hailed as one of the greatest writers in the English language, after all. But this letter from Captain Wentworth to Anne Elliot in Persuasion surely counts among the most passionate excerpts she has ever penned. It's basically the Captain's last chance shot at happiness, a desperation declaration of his undying love for Anne that takes place right at the end of the novel.

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Literature's most powerful and poignant letters: fictional messages of love, tragedy and passion from our favourite books