Mansfield Park

Jane Austen

Jan 2017 · First Avenue Editions ™

About this ebook

Too poor to care for all their children, the Price family sends ten-year-old Fanny to live with wealthy relatives at their estate, Mansfield Park. Fanny is painfully shy and spends her childhood struggling to fit in with her Bertram cousins, being constantly reminded of her lower social status. Then Henry Crawford and his sister Mary move in next door. They are fashionable and rich, but scheming. Fanny, now a teenager, falls for her cousin Edmund, but he seems to only have eyes for Mary Crawford. Meanwhile, Fanny is pursued by the charming but amoral Henry Crawford. With all these romantic entanglements, will Fanny ever feel truly at home at Mansfield Park? English author Jane Austen examines the influence of nature vs. nurture in this unabridged version of her social satire, first published in 1814.

About the author

Jane Austen's life is striking for the contrast between the great works she wrote in secret and the outward appearance of being quite dull and ordinary. Austen was born in the small English town of Steventon in Hampshire, and educated at home by her clergyman father. She was deeply devoted to her family. For a short time, the Austens lived in the resort city of Bath, but when her father died, they returned to Steventon, where Austen lived until her death at the age of 41. Austen was drawn to literature early, she began writing novels that satirized both the writers and the manners of the 1790's. Her sharp sense of humor and keen eye for the ridiculous in human behavior gave her works lasting appeal. She is at her best in such books as Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), in which she examines and often ridicules the behavior of small groups of middle-class characters. Austen relies heavily on conversations among her characters to reveal their personalities, and at times her novels read almost like plays. Several of them have, in fact, been made into films. She is considered to be one of the most beloved British authors.