ISBN: 9783746625706
Fanny Price’s life changes quite drastically in Mansfield Park when she is taken from her small home with many siblings to live in a gorgeous home with her rich relations. Jane Austen describes the way that Fanny manages to make her way through life and her place in it with her normal style and grace. Fanny has an interesting life with those who she has barely known before. Of course they have been gracious to bring her into their home and they take care to make sure she knows this. And that means dealing with her cousins who aren’t always the nicest people.
Life at the Park
Fanny’s cousins often make her life miserable with their spoiled ways except for her one sweet-natured cousin Edmund. Her aunt, and especially a second aunt that comes to live with the family, treat her poorly as well, excluding her from nearly everything that the other children are allowed to do. Poor Fanny begins to fall in love with her second eldest cousin Edmund however he is falling love with a new visitor to the Park. It takes some time for the group to come together and become close friends.
Her cousin Maria gets married and leaves the Park taking one of her sisters with her. Fanny’s uncle however, returns and finds himself very interested in Fanny who has grown up since he left. He is determined to treat her well and find a good match for her which he thinks exists when Henry proposes to her. Fanny however, refuses to accept the match, still believing herself in love with Edmund and determined not to marry another if she cannot have him for herself. As a result, she is sent home by her uncle where Henry follows her.
Things will never be as quiet as they are in that short time. Henry isn’t who everyone thinks he is and Fanny’s cousins Maria and Julia are not either. There is much more going on than anyone knows what to do with and before all the dust settles it’s likely that many will be thinking differently about Fanny and all of her cousins as well. There is much for all to do and there is much for Fanny to show to the family who once looked down on her as an unworthy relation. It seems Fanny is not so unworthy as anyone may have thought her to be.
