Maria Bertram’s Daughter by Lucy Knight - Blog Tour, Character Interview and Ebook Giveaway

Today I am happy to be welcoming a new visitor to Babblings of a Bookworm, Lucy Knight. Lucy has written a book called Maria Bertram’s Daughter, which you will probably realise from the title is Mansfield Park sequel. In Mansfield Park’s Bicentennial year I read quite a few MP-inspired books and found that there were relatively few to choose from, so I am really pleased to bring you news of this new one.

Lucy has joined us with a guest post, and publishers Meryton Press are offering an ebook giveaway to accompany the blog tour. Let’s look at the blurb and then I’ll hand over to Lucy for her guest post, which is an interview with the title character, Maria Bertram’s Daughter, Dorothea Rose.

Book Description

She could be mistress of Mansfield Park. But is that what she wants?

An unwanted child—conceived in circumstances her mother would rather forget—Dorothea Henrietta Rose grows up solitary and neglected with her dissatisfied mother and unpleasant great-aunt Norris. Raised without the knowledge that her mother is her mother or that their occasional visitor, Sir Thomas Bertram, is her grandfather, she is forbidden ever to set foot in Mansfield Park.

Dorothea hopes for a happier life when sent away to school, but her difficulties are not over. She is obliged to make her way in the world as a governess and, thus, encounters human frailty, hypocrisy, good, and evil in her travels throughout England.

She meets the Crawfords—Henry and Mary (now Lady Drumroth)—and inevitably does the one thing she must not do: unwillingly makes herself known to the inhabitants of Mansfield Park.

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Death of a Dandy: A Mansfield Park Mystery by Riana Everly - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Today I’m happy to be welcoming Riana Everly back to the blog for a guest post, a chance to enjoy an exerpt of her new book, Death of a Dandy: A Mansfield Park Mystery, and a chance to win an ebook of it too!

This is the latest in the Miss Mary Investigates series, which sees Pride & Prejudice’s Mary Bennet solving mysteries. Let’s look at the blurb, and then I’ll hand over to Riana for her guest post, excerpt from Death of a Dandy and giveaway.

Book Description

The worlds of Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park meet when Mary Bennet lands in the middle of her third adventure with handsome investigator Alexander Lyons.

The two friends are travelling back to Mary’s home after a visit to the Darcy family at Pemberley when their journey is interrupted by the news that Tom Bertram, the heir to Mansfield Park, has disappeared. Alexander is asked to take the case, and he and Mary find themselves as guests at the estate. The house is abuzz with activity as plans go ahead for a fox hunt and the performance of a play, and Mary sees intrigue in every interaction between the beautiful residents of Mansfield Park and their sophisticated guests.

When the hunt ends in tragedy with the discovery of a body, Alexander’s involvement grows even deeper, but every clue leads to even more questions. The more Alexander digs, the more it seems this death might involve people much higher up than he can reach. And the biggest question of all is who, exactly, was the intended victim of what is surely murder most foul?

Mary and Alexander find themselves hard at work to unravel a web of secrets and dark goings-on that enshroud the elegant estate of Mansfield Park. But Alexander is hiding a secret of his own, one which he knows will forever doom any possible future for him and Mary.

Will they solve the mystery before somebody else dies? And will any hearts remain unbroken if they succeed?

Five Daughters Out at Once by Jayne Bamber, Narrated by Stevie Zimmerman - Author Interview, Excerpt and Giveaway

Today I’m happy to be welcoming Jayne Bamber back to the blog to celebrate the audio release of Five Daughters Out at Once, narrated by Stevie Zimmerman. Jayne visited us with the print version of this book too, and you can read more about that here.

I am so happy when Austenesque authors make their books available in audio. Not only does it make the book available to those who cannot read print, for whatever reason, but it can enliven our travelling and chore time, and also brings us closer to Austen’s time, when reading aloud was a common way that people would spend time together.

Let’s look at the blurb and then I will bring you an author interview with Jayne, and share an excerpt with you. Jayne is giving away an audiobook of Five Daughters Out at Once to accompany the blog tour. Read on for more details!

Book Description

After the untimely death of their parents, Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters are left to make their own way in the world, and the dubious decision to stay at Longbourn until they are forced out leads to chaos and confrontation two years later, when their cousin Mr. Collins comes to claim his inheritance.

Hot on his heels is his noble patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, a woman consumed by grief of her own after the loss of her husband and daughter in a terrible fire at her estate, Rosings Park. While her nephew Mr. Darcy is shocked by his aunt’s interest in the five orphaned girls, her niece Georgiana thinks it just the thing to soothe the dowager’s low spirits. Moved by the bonds of sorrow and a shared contempt of Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine offers the Bennet sisters her protection and assistance in society – and what better way to help them than to find them all rich husbands?

Much to her chagrin, Lady Catherine is not the only one to meddle in Meryton’s marriage mart – Richard Fitzwilliam joins her, at leisure to make mischief, Charlotte Lucas, now an heiress in her own right, has a secret of her own, and Georgiana Darcy finds herself inspired to write a novel that will document – and change – the lives of her new friends.

Tensions rise between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy as they both bristle at Lady Catherine’s plans – for very different reasons. Misapprehension and misunderstandings abound and plans go awry as the great lady rents Netherfield Park and hosts a horde of single gentlemen in possession of good fortunes, who must be in want of wives.

Will the Bennet sisters find love and happiness? What other Austen heroes and rakes might appear in the once dull village of Meryton? Will Darcy and Lizzy overcome the obstacles of their own making?

Miss Price's Decision by Eliza Shearer - Blog Tour, Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

I'm very happy to be welcoming Eliza Shearer back to the blog today. Eliza visited us previously with her book, Miss Darcy's Beaux, which focused on the sister of Pride & Prejudice's Mr Darcy, but also included characters from other Austen novels such as Persuasion and Mansfield Park. This latest book, Miss Price's Decision relates to Miss Susan Price, sister of Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. Both books are stand-alone, so you don't need to have read the first to dive into the second.

I am so happy that a book has been written featuring Mansfield Park characters. Firstly, because I like to see books other than P&P get some love, and secondly, I am particularly happy that Susan Price gets to be the main character, because I struggled to like Fanny Price when I read Mansfield Park until she went to Portsmouth, widened her views and became a more compassionate character, thanks to her appreciation of Susan's efforts to improve herself.

Like Miss Darcy's Beaux, Miss Price's Decision also features characters from other Austen novels, and Eliza Shearer has brought us an excerpt that gives us a peep at some of these characters. Let's look at the blurb and then I'll hand over to Eliza for a guest post and excerpt. She's also brought an ebook giveaway!

Book Description

Pretty, talented and hungry for adventure, young Susan Price is secretly thrilled when the poor health of Lady Bertram, her aunt and protector, forces a departure from sedate Mansfield Park. London and Bath offer a world of possibilities and new friendships, such as the Allens and Miss Moreland, or Mr Bingley and his mysterious friend, Mr Darcy. However, with momentous decisions on the horizon, new enemies that threaten her place in the Bertram household and an unexpected encounter from her Portsmouth past, will Susan's self-belief and unlikely allies be enough to secure her happiness?

Seeking Mansfield by Kate Watson - Guest Post and Giveaway

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Kate Watson to the blog. Kate has written 'Seeking Mansfield', a book based on 'Mansfield Park'. I re-read the original on its bicentenary a few years ago and sought out some MP-related reads. I found that there wasn't a huge amount of choice so I am always really pleased to see something with a nod to MP.

Kate has joined us with a guest post, and there's a chance to win a copy of the book too. So without further delay, I'll share the book description with you, and then pass over to Kate.

The Beresfords by Christina Dudley

You may have wondered where I've been lately. Well, I had a netball injury which left me in hospital! I'm home now, but mostly chair bound for the next few months. I'm not happy about that at all, as you can imagine, but at least I can still read. Here is a review that I wrote before I was hospitalised but didn't get the chance to share with you.

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Last year, to celebrate the bicentenary of ‘Mansfield Park’ I embarked on a Mansfield reading challenge and found that there were slim pickings. I read a few Mansfield Park inspired books but they were all young adult. ‘The Beresfords’ is an updated version of Mansfield Park set in the 1980s and although our main character, Frannie Price is 14 when it begins I wouldn’t categorise it as YA.

Frannie went to live with her Aunt Marie’s family at age 6. Frannie’s mum was a drug addict, and so had brushes with the law and social services and Frannie’s aunt by marriage, Aunt Terri (the Mrs Norris character) suggests to her brother, Paul (the Sir Thomas Bertram character) that it would be the morally upright thing to do to bring his wife’s niece to live with them. Paul has 4 children from his first marriage, Tom, followed by Jonathan (Edmund), Rachel (Maria) and Julie.  Marie, Frannie’s aunt, is their step-mother. Marie has been in the Beresford children’s lives for around 13 years when our story begins and the Beresford children’s birth mother isn’t that interested in them, so they see Marie as their mother. Marie is very indolent, in a vague, ineffectual way, and though she is fond of them, she doesn’t put herself out much for anybody at all, so the raising of the children has mostly been done by Paul Beresford’s sister, Theresa, aka Terri or Aunt Terror. The only person who actually sees her as a terror is 14 year old Frannie, who Aunt Terri is always finding jobs for, when she isn’t reminding Frannie how much she owes her relatives.

Frannie is an interesting character. She’s so awkward, gauche and crushingly shy. She utterly adores Jonathan, who is the only person in the family who actually seems to care for her at all or see her as a person. Her other step-cousins resented her from the first, finding her uneducated and slow compared to them. They are all older than her, she’d had limited education before she’d come to live with the Beresfords and they are all academically more able than her. Jonathan dreams of becoming a pastor, and has instilled a lot of his beliefs into Frannie. The rest of the family are regular churchgoers but they only attend church because their strict father insists on it, it’s all lip-service. Tom is wild, always sneaking out to drink, and he’s gone away to college, where he has a pretty good time. One day, he brings home some friends from college, twins Eric and Caroline Grant (the Crawford characters). They are sophisticated and irreverent, and the Beresfords are immediately attracted to them, probably because they are just so different.

‘We’d never heard conversation like this before, and you could see us all draw nearer, like neighboring stars being sucked into a black hole.’

From the sidelines, Frannie resentfully watches as Caroline Grant casts her spell over Frannie’s beloved Jonathan while Caroline’s brother Eric toys with the affections of both Rachel and Julie, despite the fact that Rachel has a boyfriend, star of the baseball team Greg. Since Frannie is so overlooked, she is rarely noticed, which gives her an opportunity to watch the whole group closely. Although she is naive she sees the manipulations and the charm offensive that the Grants are pulling on the Beresfords, and mistrusts them accordingly.

I think all of the modern updates of 'Mansfield Park' that I’ve read have been young adult reads, and although you can see the events of 'Mansfield Park' they’ve not been anywhere near as complex. This was very different in that respect, I felt that it was easily the most faithful update that I’ve read. Frannie was so similar to Fanny Price – overlooked, seen as lesser by her stepcousins (here lesser in age and intelligence rather than social status) and by virtue of them all being so self-absorbed she is completely overlooked. In some respects she is quite ignorant and she is quite black and white in her judgements of people, but with her view of the Grants unobstructed by any attention to her from them she is able to make shrewd judgement of their characters. The downside for me of Frannie being so close to Fanny is that it took me a long time to engage fully with the book. Frannie isn’t really an engaging character! In ‘Mansfield Park’ there is a third person narrator making wry observations and intelligent comments but here it’s all from Frannie’s narrow and naive point of view which wasn’t as engaging.  Frannie is also very isolated which for me didn’t work quite as well in a modern setting. In ‘Mansfield Park’ Fanny doesn’t have much choice of companions. Her cousins aren’t interested in her, Fanny isn’t out in society and she would have had very little opportunity to meet people of a suitable class. Frannie could have met a much wider range of people, and if she wasn’t able to find many friends in school, she had other opportunities through church. Frannie comes across as quite a cold individual which makes her a little less likeable than Fanny Price, who had far less chance to find people to care for. Also, I felt that Fanny’s main weakness, being overly judgemental and not taking into account people’s backgrounds, is a fault that Frannie shared but never really overcame.

As I mentioned above religion plays a part in this book which people may not be expecting in a modern update. However, in my opinion it’s entirely fitting; in ‘Mansfield Park’, Mary Crawford is aghast at the thought of Edmund becoming a clergyman, and the difference in their spiritual viewpoint would be sure to take some bridging and compromise, and here it’s no different. Frannie being raised in an environment where religious teachings are given prominence also helps account for her attitude, which by modern standards is quite conservative. Conversely, rebelling against their religious upbringing also explains some of Rachel and Tom’s behaviour, and the fact that they keep it so secret from their father.

Once I got past the first third or so of the book I was really gripped, and very impressed by how closely the relationship dynamics followed ‘Mansfield Park’. Frannie’s feelings were represented well, and I thought some of the things which may not have made sense in a modern update without tweaking were well-accounted for (such as Eric Grant suddenly noticing Frannie as an attractive girl – here it’s because he hasn’t seen her in a few years and she has changed quite a bit in that time and suddenly seems grown up to him). As I said, this is easily the most faithful update of Mansfield Park that I’ve read and what comes parcelled with that is that the cast of characters aren’t the most likeable you’ll find, though I felt differently to some of them compared to their characters in MP. Aunt Terri is always nipping away at Frannie but she’s not the horrible woman that Aunt Norris is, and I always had a soft spot for the Crawford that I didn’t find for Caroline Grant, though I still managed to find some pity for her brother! If you’re looking to read a modern update of 'Mansfield Park' I’d certainly recommend this one, and I’d rate it as 4½ stars.

Revisit Mansfield Park: When Fanny Married Henry by Sarah Ozcandarli

It’s no spoiler to say what happens in this book, as it’s right there in the title! This is a variation based on Mansfield Park, exploring what could have happened if Fanny had given Henry Crawford more encouragement. This is a plot bunny for a variation that Austen herself set up within the text of Mansfield Park, Chapter 48:

‘Would he have persevered, and uprightly, Fanny must have been his reward, and a reward very voluntarily bestowed, within a reasonable period from Edmund’s marrying Mary.’

Revisit Mansfield Park's opening three chapters sum up the happenings of Mansfield Park as a reminder, or for those who haven’t read it, which is a bit dry, but we then get into the substance of this variation. If you’ve read Mansfield Park you may well remember that when Fanny Price goes to Portsmouth Henry Crawford visits her there. When he leaves he asks her to advise him as to whether he should return to his estate or go to London. Fanny declines to advise him and instead replies with one of the most famous quotes of the novel:

‘We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.’

Crawford goes to London, and Fanny doesn’t see him again. However, in this book, when Crawford asks for her advice Fanny decides to give him a chance. To test Crawford’s regard for her, she will give her opinion. If he follows her advice then it could be that what he says is true, his interest in her is genuine and she has judged him unfairly. She advises him to return to his estate to settle the matters of business he has outstanding there. Given this encouragement Crawford requests that he might be allowed to correspond with Fanny, and she agrees, subject to her uncle’s consent. Obviously Sir Thomas is happy to agree with this, as the reason he sent Fanny to Portsmouth was to try and change her mind about Crawford’s proposal.

In this book, Fanny is more introspective. She wonders whether she is too guarded, comparing herself against the warmer Miss Crawford, and reflecting that she has opened her heart to her sister Susan, and has been rewarded by a growing sisterly relationship with her. Perhaps she could be less guarded in relation to Mr Crawford too? She decides to try and get to know him and give him a chance to see if she could care for him. As they correspond Fanny and Henry get to know each other better and she comes to see his good qualities – he’s intelligent, successful at things when he applies himself, and he is able to talk sensibly and interestingly with people ranging from William Price, to Sir Thomas to his daughters. Henry is also taken to task on his flirting and writes to Fanny:

‘I assure you that henceforth I will flirt with no one unless I fully intend to make her my wife, or she is already my wife. Therefore, I may flirt with you, Miss Price, when or if you allow it, though it may be that your honest heart knows not how to play that game.’

Henry Crawford is a very charming man and I found myself charmed by him in this variation. He says such lovely things, and is very thoughtful towards Fanny. So much so, that she begins to be won over. You may wonder, what of Edmund? Well, Fanny is so much more introspective here that she questions whether she was mistaken in thinking that she loved Edmund romantically. In fact, when Fanny receives a long-awaited letter from Edmund, who is staying in London, she receives a letter from Henry the same day which eclipses Edmund’s epistle:

‘She had meant to write to Edmund that evening, but her thoughts were less of her cousin than of Mr. Crawford, and she deferred Edmund’s letter until the next morning.’

I was wondering at this point what effect this might have on other people in Fanny’s family, most notably her cousin Maria, when you consider what happened in Mansfield Park! We catch up with what happened in London while Henry was at his Norfolk estate, and some questions here were raised that I didn’t feel were resolved by the end of the novel in relation to Maria and also Edmund and Mary. Also, the fates given to some of the characters seemed unnecessarily harsh to me and not very Austenesque!

On the whole I enjoyed this novel, however, in parts I felt it fell a little flat. I enjoyed the general tone of the writing, which was quite witty in parts but sometimes it seemed to be lacking in sparkle, with a bit too much telling the reader things rather than showing.  This wasn’t helped by the three summary chapters at the beginning. I appreciate why they were in the book, but as they were summaries they were dry reading and sometimes I felt the other parts of the book reverted to this style. I thought the author brought Henry Crawford to life nicely but Fanny was a little too insipid for my liking and she was critical of her relations in some of her letters to Crawford, which seemed out of character to me. Also, when scandal affects Fanny’s family, it seemed unlikely that she wouldn’t worry that it might affect Henry’s plans towards her. However, I was very pleased to see a Mansfield Park variation as most books based on Mansfield Park seem either to be sequels or modern retellings. I also found it interesting to see a scenario exploring a possible variation proposed by Jane Austen herself! I’d rate this book at 3½ stars.

The Matters at Mansfield: Or, The Crawford Affair by Carrie Bebris

Please note, that while the following review doesn't contain spoilers for The Matters at Mansfield there are slight spoilers for Mansfield Park. Read on at your peril!

Carrie Bebris has written a number of these mysteries, each with a link to one of Jane Austen’s novels and featuring Mr and Mrs Darcy as the investigators. I believe this is the fourth book in the Mr & Mrs Darcy Mysteries series, but it read fine as a stand alone. I was immediately drawn into the story by my affinity with a scene of exhaustion that most parents would be familiar with – dealing with a child going through a spell of teething.

“It is a truth less frequently acknowledged, that a good mother in possession of a single child, must be in want of sleep.”

Mr and Mrs Darcy are staying at a friend's country house, in company with their infant daughter, Lily-Anne (query – does anybody know when hyphenating names became usual? It seems too modern to me, but I could well be wrong) and her nursemaid. Also at the party are Lady Catherine and her daughter Miss Anne de Bourgh, and Colonel Fitzwilliam.  After spending interminable time settling her daughter Elizabeth goes back to her bedroom, still in the early hours of the morning. She bumps into Anne de Bourgh, fully dressed, who proffers some hasty excuses for her presence out of her bed in the middle of the night, though she needn’t have bothered, due to poor Elizabeth’s sleep deprived state!

“The thought had not so much as entered Elizabeth’s mind, which was primarily occupied with calculating how many hours; sleep she might yet manage to capture if she nodded off immediately upon reaching her pillow.”

However, the next day Elizabeth thinks things over, and comes to the conclusion that Anne needs help to break away from Lady Catherine’s control. She raises this with Mr Darcy, who here is shown to have a view of his cousin that I always suspected when reading Pride and Prejudice:

“To Darcy, his cousin was merely a vassal in Lady Catherine’s tightly controlled court. In all the years of their growing up, he had never thought of her as an independent being, and seldom thought of her at all.”

Lady Catherine has plans for Anne, however. Now the upstart Mrs Darcy has blighted Lady Catherine’s matrimonial ambitions Lady Catherine must make other plans for her daughter, and this time she is holding out for a titled gentleman, doing her best to manipulate the doddering Lord Sennex into agreeing a match between his son and Anne. However, Anne has been considering whether to break out from her mother’s control, and Elizabeth inadvertently encourages Anne to embark on a very rash course of action involving a gentlemen who can be met in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, the charming Mr Henry Crawford.

Through a series of events including an accidental injury to Anne, many of the party end up stuck in an inn until Anne is enough recovered to be moved. Unfortunately for Mr Crawford, it’s in an area of the country where he is about as popular as smallpox – the inn is close to the environs of Mansfield Park!  In relation to the events of Mansfield Park we are just about at the end, although for me the timeline didn’t quite work, as I think Fanny’s marriage wouldn’t have taken place until things were more settled with Maria – here Maria is staying with her Aunt Norris, who is trying to effect a reconciliation with Mr Rushworth.

It was refreshing to see Mr Crawford finally be held to account for some of his wrongdoing, he’s always got away with things in the past. He is fairly unapologetic for his behaviour, which I thought was exactly in accordance with his character, since he’s never tried to behave as he should in preference to behaving as he wants:

“I realize I have acted badly, but if my attempt to explain is going to elicit naught but hostility I must beg leave to postpone further discussion of the matter.”

It turns out that Mr Crawford has behaved much worse than at first was thought, and his sins are beginning to catch up with him. Soon there is a dead body to account for, which is followed by other deaths... but who is responsible?

I quite enjoy cosy mysteries, and I enjoyed this one, although since I am no Miss Marple I only worked out part of the plot in advance, and the rest of it I realised not long before all was revealed! I am not sure it is true to say in this case that Mr and Mrs Darcy investigated, instead Mrs Darcy was first exhausted with the demands of her child, and then by the demands of her tiresome aunt by marriage! However, the time that Mr and Mrs Darcy spent together was really delightful, I liked to see their close relationship and to see that Mrs Darcy had lost none of her teasing, saucy speeches! There were some lovely humorous parts, mostly in the dialogue between the Darcys or in their private thoughts, e.g.:

“Darcy shifted in his chair and stole what he hoped was a discreet glimpse at his pocketwatch. Midnight – a mere six minutes since his last covert glance. His suspicions were confirmed.
He would die at this card table.”

I am so glad I picked this book up, I really enjoyed it, and I’d like to read other books in the series. There are quite a few of them. In order, they are: Pride and Prescience, Suspense and Sensibility, North by Northanger, The Matters at Mansfield, The Intrigue at Highbury and The Deception at Lyme. According to Carrie Bebris’ website she is currently writing one related to Sanditon, which is planned for completion in 2014.

Belle: The True Story of Dido Belle by Paula Byrne

A while ago I saw the film ‘Belle’ which tells the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle. The inspiration for this film was a portrait, showing Lady Elizabeth Murray and what was originally thought to be a black servant girl. However, in the 1980s it was realised that the black girl in the picture had much higher status than that. In fact, she was Lady Elizabeth’s cousin, daughter of Captain John Lindsay. Dido’s mother was a slave. Dido was brought to live with her childless uncle and aunt at the age of around five.  The family she lived with were a noble family, which gave Dido a unique status in society.

While officially there wasn’t slavery in Britain, many high up families made money supported by either the slave trade itself, or the labour of slaves in far away plantations. Most black or mixed race people living in Britain in the 1700s would be ex-slaves or servants. However, Dido had a status high above that, yet not as high as her cousin, firstly due to the fact that she was illegitimate, and secondly due to her race. The uncle who took Dido in wasn’t just any gentleman – he was Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, the highest judge in England, and one who happened to specialise in maritime insurance law and hence would deal with cases involving slaves. Lord Mansfield made decisions that paved the way for the abolition of slavery, and there were some that said this was due to the influence of one of his much-loved adoptive daughters, Dido Belle.

There is very little known about Dido, aside from the date of her christening, other church records and a number of bequests that were made to her by her family, so I knew the filmmakers took artistic licence with her story. Some of it was fascinating, the look at how she was in such a unique place in society, above the servants, yet below her class of society as a whole, and there was an exploration of how different people may have reacted to her, and how it might have made her feel that was really touching. Some of the things that are portrayed in the film went beyond the bounds of believability for me, due to the restricted place in society of women in general, and Dido in particular. It wasn't clear to me which bits were true and which weren’t, so I was pleased to see this book by Paula Byrne, which ties in with the film.

This is a factual book, and although not much is known about Dido’s life, Byrne sets what is known in context with events and societal views at the time and infers what she can from it - the result is a book that I found extremely interesting, although some parts I found hard to read, due to the subject matter. The concept of slavery is one which I find morally abhorrent. The idea that people could be owned, could be objectified, that people with feelings could be treated so disgracefully by other human beings is an extremely disturbing part of history. I found the parts that detailed slave treatment on ships, particularly the sexual treatment of women and children as young as 8 quite hard to read because I found it just so upsetting.

Granville Sharp

One of the most dedicated fighters against slavery was a man called Granville Sharp. He worked tirelessly for the cause, taking up a number of cases and arguing that under English law there were no slaves, no property in persons and that all persons were subject to the protection of England’s laws, including the Habeas Corpus Act, relating to unlawful detention of a person, which is still in force today. A pivotal case, not shown in the film, was the Somerset case, in 1772. Here, a slave called James Somerset was brought to England by his master, Charles Stewart. Somerset escaped, but was recaptured and sold to a slave ship bound for the West Indies. The case was brought by people trying to resolve the status of slaves in England once and for all. Did slavery exist in Great Britain, or didn’t it?

The question of slavery must have been an extremely thorny issue for Mansfield. On the one hand, a large section of the country’s economy relied on the profits of slavery. There were not only slave owners, many of whom were extremely influential, but also an industry reliant on the profits of trading and shipping slaves, and people who traded in the commodities that slaves helped to produce. There were insurance policies bought and sold to insure the slaves while they were being transported. On the other hand, there was obviously a moral view too – is it right that people should be treated as less than human due to the hue of their skin? Do the ancient laws of England such as habeas corpus, not apply to black people? If a person is no longer a slave the second they set foot on British soil was there a danger that all escaped slaves would flee to Britain for sanctuary and the country be overrun with immigrants? For Mansfield there may have been the additional aspect of Dido to consider – if he ruled that black people were property and that it was lawful to recapture a slave to resell, could she have been in danger of kidnap? She had been born to a slave, and hence was technically a slave herself.

William Murray, Lord Mansfield

It is not known exactly what was said by Mansfield while he delivered the verdict, but several accounts state that he used the word ‘odious’ to describe the state of slavery, and stated that the law of England didn’t allow or approve the treatment Somerset had received, and therefore Somerset was discharged from the court.  Later, Mansfield clarified that what this meant was that it was not legal to forcibly take the slave and carry him abroad in England, and that nothing had been ruled relating to the concept of slavery, however:

“The tide of public opinion had changed. A great moral question had been resolved. On English soil, no man was a slave. Mansfield, whether he liked it or not, was perceived as the man who had made slavery illegal in England.”

This case was more important than the one featured in the film, where Mansfield had to decide on an insurance case relating to the slave ship, the Zong. Here, a slave trader had claimed for the loss of some slaves in transit. The slaves had been killed by their captors. However, this horrible massacre in itself wasn’t illegal, if it was done to save the entire ship, which is what was claimed, as they had run out of drinking water.  If the slaves had died of natural causes such as sickness, the insurance company wouldn’t pay out, but if the crew had been forced to kill them to save the whole craft then the insurance cover should be valid. The film doesn’t represent this case entirely accurately, the pivotal deciding legal issue wasn’t quite the same as in the film, and in fact a judgement wasn’t made as it was moved to a retrial which never took place as the plaintiff dropped his claim. I found the clarification of the true facts very interesting and helpful. I knew that the filmmakers would have taken artistic licence with Dido’s life, but I wouldn’t have expected them to have done it in relation to the court cases, so I was glad to have this clarified.

Am I not a man and a brother?

Following these sorts of cases public opinion grew and grew for the abolition of slavery. Ordinary people began to boycott sugar usage, as many slaves were working on sugar plantations, and there were high-profile supporters of the cause, such as Josiah Wedgewood, who made this anti-slavery plaque. William Cowper, the poet, wrote this in 1788:

“I pity them greatly, but I must be mum,
For how could we do without sugar and rum?
Especially sugar, so needful we see?
What? Give up our desserts, our coffee, and tea! 

There are a number of examples in the book of things which created a snowball effect leading to the 1807 Act for the Abolition of the Slave trade. In the meantime, we know that both Lord and Lady Mansfield died, and Dido married, in 1793. Her husband had the same name as in the film, but was of an entirely different profession. How happy they were and whether it was a love match or an arranged marriage is entirely unknown. However, the girl who had been brought up in the absence of her parents was able to become a mother herself, to three sons, of which two survived.

There is a section at the end of the book relating just to Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, which I found extremely interesting. Austen was actually acquainted with Dido’s cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, by then Lady Finch, and it seems more than coincidental that the novel of Austen that actually references the slave trade is called Mansfield Park. There are a number of other references that may point to a link, such as the name of one of the characters in the book. Austen would probably have been aware of a slave captain, by the name of Robert Norris, who was a supporter of the trade. This is also the surname of Fanny Price’s oppressor, a woman who holds far too much power at Mansfield Park, the horrible Mrs Norris. Some would argue that there are more references than that, such as Fanny's lifestyle, etc.

Byrne points out an idea that had never occurred to me before – on plantations where the owners were absent the treatment of slaves was generally far worse. Sir Thomas Bertram is an absentee planter, who is obliged to travel to Antigua to sort problems on that estate, but his absentee parenting style has also caused problems within his family in England, and his physical absence at this time allows the moral vacuum in his home to cause longlasting damage to his children.

Since so little is known about Dido Elizabeth Belle this isn’t really her history, so it's a little misleading to say this is the true story of her life, but her legacy is not so much what she did as what she possibly inspired by being a much loved member of Lord Mansfield’s family. This book is more a book on the abolition of the slave trade with particular focus on Lord Mansfield and his family. It’s a book I very much enjoyed, once I’d got past the parts which I found a little upsetting. If you’ve watched the film I would definitely recommend reading this, just so you’re clear on what is fact and what is fiction, but I think it would be well worth reading even if you have no interest in the film.  I read this on kindle, and just to warn you, the book finishes around 70% due to all the annotations and references.

Finding Favor by Lana Long

To celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of Mansfield Park each month I’ve been trying to read something inspired by Mansfield Park. ‘Finding Favor’ by Lana Long is a young adult modernisation of the book.

17 year old orphan Favor Miller has lived with the Brown family for the last 8 years. Mr Brown was a college friend of Favor’s father. Favor doesn’t remember much of her family, so her most highly-prized possessions are journals belonging to her father and grandfather which she reads in times of distress to feel close to them. Although Favor lives with the Browns she isn’t really part of the family on an emotional level. When Mrs Brown spends time with her daughter, Madison, Favor is not invited to join them. There are two Brown sons, Tom, the party-boy elder son, and younger son Ethan, the Edmund character, who is Favor’s closest friend. Favor adores Ethan and secretly hopes for a romantic relationship between them one day.

As it nears Favor’s eighteenth birthday she is summoned to Mr Brown’s office, He wants her to sign a contract. It’s not really legally enforceable but more of a moral agreement. He will provide her with college tuition and arrange an internship which will greatly assist Favor in her desired career of horticulture. In return, she will comport herself in such a way that doesn’t embarrass the Brown family and she will also back off from her relationship with Ethan so he has a chance to forge new relationships that will be of benefit when he goes to work for his father’s company. Favor is devastated by this. Firstly, it shows how little the Browns have accepted her into their family, after all this time. She knows that Mr Brown has contacts that could seriously affect her future career prospects too, but the thing that really upsets Favor is the thought of having to give up Ethan. To cope with the day to day slights of being only tolerated rather than loved and the bullying she receives from Madison, Favor has purposely withdrawn – she has very few friends aside from Ethan, so he has become her whole world.

'My parents died and I'd accepted it. I lived a quasi-life, trapped by the Brown rules and expectations, and I'd accepted that. If I accepted those things so easily why was I struggling to accept that I'd never be with Ethan? 

But then again, I'd never really accepted those other things either. I'd just buried them. And now the graveyard of suppressed emotions threatened to overflow.'

One of the Brown’s neighbours has some visitors coming to stay – brother and sister Henry and Mary Crawford. In no time at all Ethan is under Mary’s thumb, and Favor faces having to lose him whether she signs the contract or not.

Mr and Mrs Brown, like Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park, are not hands-on parents. He works almost constantly, and is a controlling authority figure rather than a loving dad, and Mrs Brown is often mentally absent even if she’s usually physically there. She is often staring at her smartphone rather than engaging with her children. Favor is not treated the same as the Brown children, she is staying with them long-term rather than being a member of the family.

I had mixed feelings on this book, as there were things about it that I thought were really good and other things I wasn’t sure about.  I thought there were a number of aspects that would have been better if they’d been portrayed with a bit more subtlety, especially Madison. Madison is like the characters of Maria Bertram and Mrs Norris rolled into one so as you can imagine she is really horrible. However, Maria Bertram kept her horribleness under a veneer of propriety, so it was only because her parents didn’t know her well enough that meant she could get away from it. Here Madison is not just spoiled, childish, manipulative and conniving, but she throws tantrums, and the whole family is aware of her behaviour. It was so extreme it was almost bordering on mental illness. There were a few scenes featuring Madison which I found pretty unrealistic because I felt they were over the top.

I was a little disappointed with the Henry Crawford character too because he was such a nonentity, he is barely in the story. However, the flipside of this is that Tom Bertram was made a much bigger role. Tom was probably my favourite character in this story. He began the story as a party boy with a ‘cologne of beer’, but he was so funny and showed genuine fondness and empathy for Favor so I couldn’t help but soften towards him. Tom gets the best of the funny lines. For example, when Favor asks him if it's now 'you and me against the world' he wryly replies:

"Let's start locally, and go globally if needed."

However, Tom’s care for Favor only makes Ethan appear worse. The event mirroring the part in Mansfield Park when Edmund overlooks Fanny’s need to use her horse is far less forgivable in this book. I didn’t feel that Ethan had many redeeming features, he drops Favor like a hot cake when Mary Crawford arrives on the scene and he is generally selfish all the way through the book. I thought this was a shame, because although some people don’t have time for Edmund in Mansfield Park, I personally think that he was a responsible and thoughtful man, who genuinely cared for Fanny, and the fact that he cared for Mary Crawford before realising how he felt for Fanny Price is no more reprehensible than Elizabeth Bennet initially being attracted by Wickham in Pride & Prejudice.

Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park is a character that leaves me torn, because secretly I really like her, despite her faults. Mary is a very interesting character, but here she was more two-dimensional – this Mary is shallow, uncaring and a bragger. And that is really all there is to her.

I didn’t really understand Favor’s sudden determination to stake her place in the Brown household. If she’d been content to live for so many years on the periphery and taking a ‘you and me against the world’ attitude with Ethan you think that aside from him Favor would be keen to leave the rest of them behind. It didn’t feel likely that she would be so fiercely attached to them.

On the whole I enjoyed this author’s style. There was a lot of humour, which I enjoy. The book is written in the first person, from Favor’s point of view, but sometimes it didn’t seem to quite work – some of the descriptors used seemed awkward outside the third person, such as Favor describing her own eyes as liquid, etc.  I liked that the author had taken the time to work out how the upbringing had affected each child, as it was different in each case. I thought it was an ambitious attempt at a young adult version of a complex book and it wasn’t bad at all. I’ve read a few YA versions of Mansfield Park now, and my favourite is still the first one I read, Rosie Rushton’s ‘Whatever Love Is’, but this one is enjoyable too, and I'd give it 3½ stars.

Mansfield Park DVD – 1983 BBC Version

Recently, I watched the BBC 6 part series of Mansfield Park, made in 1983. The part of Fanny is played by Sylvestra Le Touzel (who also had a role in the 2007 Northanger Abbey) and Nicholas Farrell as Edmund. Anna Massey is Mrs Norris and Samantha Bond is Maria Bertram.

I also recognised Gorden Kaye (Rene from 80s sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!).

Over the years I’ve seen a few adaptations of Mansfield Park. The first one I saw was the 1999 version starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen that version, but I remember feeling that they’d got Fanny’s character all wrong. She was a lot more self-assured than in the book and I felt that she’d make mincemeat of Edmund, whereas in reality Edmund would have looked after her. The slavery aspect is explored more than the book, where the only allusions to slavery I can recall are references to Sir Thomas’ plantation in Antigua, which was presumably run by slave labour, and Fanny actually mentions the slave trade over dinner, in a conversation stopping move. Also, this version was very sexualised, which was unnecessary in my opinion. 

This version was probably my favoured version though, because Jonny Lee Miller was a fantastic Edmund. For me, he captured the role perfectly, so much so, that I’ve not been able to watch the 2009 version of Emma because how can I watch Edmund pretending to be Mr Knightley?! Jonny Lee Miller actually has a part in the 1983 Mansfield Park too - here he's one of Fanny's younger brothers.

The next version of Mansfield Park that I saw was the 2007adaptation starring Billie Piper. I’ve liked Billie in other things but I really didn’t like her as Fanny Price. She plays her as light hearted and giggly and she looks so wrong. Billie’s hair is very obviously dyed – fine in real life, but not in a period drama! You can’t have an historical heroine whose eyebrows are a different colour to the hair on her head! In addition, her hair is in a tousled style which is all wrong. As the poor relation Fanny would have not been keen to draw attention to herself in such a negative way, I think she’d have looked neat and tidy at all times and there would have been no hoydenish behaviour, although I think Fanny too serious a character to be hoydenish anyway. I think Fanny can be a character that a modern audience can find hard to relate to, since she’s so meek, and this is why her character is changed – but once she’s no longer meek her clear-sightedness and strength of character in refusing Henry Crawford is no longer remarkable.

I was ready to accept that there wasn’t a version of Mansfield Park out there that was true to the book when I was given the recommendation on Twitter by @AusteninBoston to try this 1983 version, which he told me was much truer to the book. I got a copy and used it to distract me over a few ironing sessions and found that he was right – this version is much truer to the book than the other versions I’d seen.  

Since this is a 1980s drama you can’t expect it to look as pretty as a newer one, and it doesn’t, but the production is pretty good. Some older productions look like they are being filmed in studios but you don’t get this impression here, it looks very natural.  I found the background woodwind music a bit distracting at first but either it stopped or I got used to it because I only really noticed it in the first episode. The story is true to Austen’s Mansfield Park, although some things are lost in the translation, as they would be with any adaptation.

There were some things that really stood out for me with this version. The first is Samantha Bond who was absolutely fantastic as the headstrong, catty Maria. Mrs Norris was toned down here so if you’d not read the book you wouldn’t have full hatred for her, but you wouldn’t like her. Anna Massey plays Mrs Norris here and gives a wonderful performance.

A while ago I read Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken which has a very sympathetic view of the Crawfords, particularly Mary Crawford, and having seen this I wonder if watching this version had influenced her view of Mary, even the physical description is the same. (As an aside, I have trouble with Mary Crawford as a character – her practical, unfeeling views match so well with our modern views, particularly in the respect of dealing with the elopement. I want to dislike her for being heartless, but instead I find myself agreeing with her views on a practical level, and admiring her candidness!)

In addition, Henry Crawford's situation with Maria is given a less blameworthy appearance in this, which also tied in with the happenings of Mansfield Revisited.

For me, some things didn't come across so well. Obviously some things you lose when adapting for screen, such as narrative language use, and these were included where they could be, but some of the main themes of the book Mansfield Park were not evident. For example, I thought a huge theme of Mansfield Park was Nature v. Nurture, which doesn't come across at all. Fanny's mother doesn't come across as at all similar to Lady Bertram in nature, although I accept that this might be hard to convey. I am not sure what I thought about Lady Bertram, she seemed not languid, but simple! There was recognition that Sir Thomas' family weren't brought up as well as they should have been, which was good to see.

The main downside of this adaptation for me was the portrayal of Fanny. Although she’s much closer to the book I think she was overacted. She’s just too gauche. Also, neither Fanny nor Edmund are very lovable, they are both humorless. I know they aren’t exactly bursting with humour in the book but other good qualities are conveyed which I didn’t quite get from this, they’re both a bit priggish. So although this version wasn’t perfect, and I think there is a gap for a really definitive version of Mansfield Park, this one is far better than the other versions out there. If you are looking for an adaptation of Mansfield Park to watch I’d recommend that you make it this one.

Mansfield Ranch by Jenni James

As you might remember I am celebrating the bicentenary of Mansfield Park by trying to work in some Mansfield Park themed reads. This isn’t the first young adult version I’ve read; a while ago I read Rosie Rushton’s Whatever Love Is, which I thought was wonderful read and tied back really nicely to Mansfield Park. I would say Mansfield Ranch by Jenni James is aimed at a slightly younger audience. The heroine is only 16 years old, and it's a very 'clean' read.

Lilly Price (Fanny Price) has been fostered by the Benally family for the past 8 years, since she was 8 years old. Previously to that she lived in a children’s home. Lilly doesn’t fit in with her snobby foster sisters, Lauren and Alexis, and she’s always in trouble with Mr Benally. Mrs Benally doesn’t pay her much attention because she’s always too busy watching TV. Lilly isn’t especially popular at school, but she has one big high point in her life; her foster brother Sean Benally. Sean is a very sweet guy who has always been there for Lilly. She is much closer to him than to her foster sisters.

Sean does have his bad points though; he doesn’t always keep his mouth shut when he should. He thinks that Lilly is unappreciated at Mansfield Ranch and she deserves a nice boyfriend. He thinks that the new neighbours’ son, Harrison Crawford, would make a good match for her. Unfortunately he tells his sisters this and they spread the untrue news that Lilly is pursuing Harrison. This sets their relationship off on a bad footing, and Lilly soon decides that she doesn’t like him. Once Harrison realises that Lilly is serious in her dislike he decides to make her fall in love with him because nobody turns down Harrison Crawford.

This type of book must be hard to write, I think, because it needs to work as a modern book in its own right while still staying true to the original. For me, this one didn’t quite push all the right buttons. Firstly, the family situation was odd. Lilly was ignored by Mrs Benally, blamed for everything by Mr Benally, and ignored by the girls. Lilly seemed to be the only one who did chores and her car was much cheaper than her foster sisters and was actually sold as a punishment to her. It reminded me a bit of Cinderella. I wouldn’t have thought there would be this level of division in a foster family when the point of a foster family is to give a child a normal family life.

In Mansfield Park there is difference in the treatment, but Fanny wasn’t supposed to be treated like the Bertrams’ daughters, and in fact it would have been wrong for them to give her the expectation that her life could be the same as theirs, as she was poorer and lower socially and likely to remain so. These days, that is just not the case, girls are so much freer to make their own way in life. Also, a scenario where a foster brother and sister are romantically involved when they have been living together as siblings since the younger child was 8 is a bit of a grey area, especially when she's only 16 and not an adult at the time of the romance. For me, it has more of an incestuous ‘ick’ factor than first cousins in Regency times with a larger age gap who were brought up as cousins, particularly given the likelihood that Edmund would have gone to boarding school and so been absent for long periods whereas Sean actually lived with Lilly and saw her every day.

Lilly’s personality was very different from Fanny Price – she was feisty, but it went over the line into rude on quite a few occasions and she led on Harrison quite badly, something that Fanny would never have done. Aside from the challenge of a girl who doesn’t like him I am not sure what Harrison saw in her. He gave a list of her good qualities but for me they didn’t come across very strongly, and he only ever sees her at her worst, so how Harrison picked up on this stuff I don’t know.

Lilly doesn’t seem bothered about kissing her step-sister’s boyfriend, which is very different from Fanny’s sense of honour. The whole Lilly/Sean-Fanny/Edmund dynamic and storyline was very different here too – instead of settling for Fanny, which many people complain about in MP, instead here both Sean and Lilly used the Crawford siblings to an extent and I felt greater pity for both of them than I did reading Mansfield Park.

One thing I thought was reflected very well from the original was Lilly’s reason for not wanting to pursue a relationship with Harrison. She doesn’t feel she can trust him:

“I’m sure there are lots of girls willing to get burned by you, but frankly, I don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with a guy who’s just playing games. I want a real guy. A guy who thinks of me first. A guy who’s dependable and nice and caring and well, all the things you’re not.”

There was a point where I thought that the Crawfords would come out blameless victims, but things weren't changed that much!

There are other books in the series which have already been released – Pride and Popularity, Northanger Alibi, Persuaded and Emmalee. From the notes at the back of Mansfield Ranch I noticed that another four books are planned. These are Sensible and Sensational (Sense & Sensibility) and also Sand & Sun, The Wilsons and Queen Sidney (I am presuming these are Austen's Sanditon, The Watsons and Lady Susan respectively, none of which I’ve read yet).

Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken

Mansfield Park-inspired books, particularly ones set in the period, appear to be pretty few and far between. I first became aware of this book when looking for books connected to Mansfield Park as a bit of a personal celebration of the bicentenary of it first being published.  

Mansfield Revisited is a sequel to Mansfield Park, set 4 years later. There have been a few changes to the family in this interval - Fanny and Edmund are happily married and proud parents to two children, Susan Price has been living at Mansfield, filling Fanny’s place as helper and general factotum to Lady Bertram. Julia (now Mrs Yates) persuaded her husband to buy a properly close to Mansfield Park and she is to be found visiting her mother on most days. Tom is still a bit unsteady, but he is no longer gambling or drinking to excess. 

The story opens with news of the death of Sir Thomas, who was visiting his Antiguan property. Somebody will have to go to sort out business affairs there, and Lady Bertram is loath to part from the new Sir Tom, bearing in mind that 4 years previously he was extremely ill and took several months to recover full health. He also needs to learn the reins for his responsibilities at home, as Edmund has often done things that Tom should have been doing. Edmund is quite happy to go to Antigua, and in fact proposes that he, Fanny, and their younger child (who is only a few months old) should all go to Antigua. Thus, Edmund and Fanny are not present for nearly the whole of this book, which will please people who do not like the hero and heroine of MP!

Instead, Susan will take on responsibility for Fanny’s older child, in addition to running the household, exercising Pug, keeping Lady Bertram company, reading to her, and untangling her shawl fringe, netting, or whatever else she has managed to tangle. Susan is extremely grateful to her relatives for taking her in – being that bit older than Fanny was when she was removed from her family she sees all the advantages the move has brought her, and she is very attached to Fanny, who is her dearest friend as well as her sister.  Susan is also more fully appreciated than Fanny was, and being less scared of her relatives allows her to be genuinely fond of them. Although Mansfield Park is now devoid of Mrs Norris the dynamic hasn’t changed that much, because Mrs Yates (Julia) has taken over the mantle of resenting the low-born interloper that is Miss Price. Mrs Yates isn’t quite as horrid as Mrs Norris, but she’s been cast in the same general mould and is quite blind to her own hypocrisy:

‘ I have often observed it; she chooses to go her own way without any of that decorum or propriety which you, ma’am and our dear aunt Norris were so careful to instil in Maria and me. ‘

This is coming from somebody who eloped! And of course, Maria ran off with her lover and was divorced so for either of them to be seen as models of propriety is laughable.

Happily, Lady Bertram is somewhat of a champion of Susan, in her own vacant, languid way:

‘Her ways suit me well enough – we go on very comfortably together, for she is an active, good-hearted girl, never too tired to untangle my work or take out Pug for an airing. And she has a fine, clearspeaking voice; I can hear it plainly when she reads to me, whereas you, Julia, always mumble, and so does Tom.'

Lady Bertram has some good speeches throughout this book, she doesn’t take much notice of anybody, isn’t bothered by much at all unless it impinges on her present comfort and she quite often is in complete disagreement with her daughter!

Susan is of a different temperament than Fanny – she isn’t meek, and she doesn’t take much of Mrs Yates’ criticism to heart. In fact, has had to learn to guard her temper, to prevent herself delivering sharp comebacks that would have been the norm in Portsmouth, but are not acceptable in this more refined society. She manages extremely well, but her Achilles heel in this respect is her cousin Tom, as they often contrive to rub each other up the wrong way:

‘He expected a more subservient and complaisant attitude from Susan than she was prepared to yield; indeed she was not prepared to yield to her cousin Tom at all, finding him in all respects, except for looks, greatly inferior to his brother.’

After Fanny and Edmund leave for Antigua, there are some new additions to the neighbourhood. One of Edmund’s friends, a Mr Wadham, has come to cover Edmund’s duties as parson, and he brings with him his widowed sister, Mrs Osborne. There is also a visitor who we’ve met before, Mary Crawford. Mary has married, but it was very unhappy and her husband has been committed to an asylum, so she asks people to call her by her maiden name. She is now gravely ill, and her brother has rented a cottage for her because she wanted to come to a place where she was happy – the environs of Mansfield Park. The opinion of readers is split on Mary – villainess or victim of her upbringing? Personally, I am quite fond of Mary, and I thought this author’s portrayal of her was wonderful, capturing Mary’s quickness and wit, how she noticed things, how she analysed characters, her humour:

‘How I can see Fanny in you; at first I did not detect the likeness; you are taller, more striking in looks and colour; but now I do. You are Fanny, but a more forceful Fanny. And, to tell truth, from what I recall of Lady Bertram, if you were occasionally to stamp and scream and throw her embroidery frame out of the window, you would quite retain my entire sympathy and give her no more than her desert.’

Mary may be ill, but she is determined to enjoy herself as much as possible, even possibly capturing a few more hearts and doing some good turns along the way. I was wrung with pity for her, it seemed so sad that somebody so alive should be wasting away:

‘I am as I was made. If, in my life, I have done harm through thoughtlessness, I trust that it was not so very bad, and that I am atoning for it now. For my part, I think that a little flirtation is far less of a sin than vindictiveness, or arrogance, or pride; and of those I have not been guilty.’

Talking of flirtation, what about Henry Crawford? Well, it has never been in doubt that he is a loving brother, and he is willing to bring his sister to an area where he must be decidedly unwelcome. An explanation is given for the situation between himself and Maria which exonerates him from much of the blame.  Another old friend who makes a re-appearance is William Price. He was one of my favourite characters from Mansfield Park, being about the only person in that book who is entirely likeable – loving, hard working, thoughtful. He is less thoughtful of other’s feelings in this outing however, perhaps feeling all is fair in love and war, but it was nice to see William decisively taking opportunities when they fell to him.

Joan Aiken has tried to replicate Jane Austen’s style and I think she did a pretty good job of it – there were no glaring modern words jumping out and there was plenty of delicate humour sprinkled throughout the book. There were some aspects of the story that I didn’t feel were so likely; how readily Mary Crawford was welcomed back into Mansfield society and the behaviour of one particular character towards the end – I cannot tell you more for fear of spoilers! I also would have preferred a bit more romance, but I could say that about Mansfield Park itself! However, on the whole, I thought this was a believable account of what may have happened after Mansfield Park finished and it is certainly one of the best sequels to one of Austen’s works that I’ve read. If this book has been languishing on your 'To Be Read' list I’d recommend that you bump it up a bit higher and celebrate Mansfield Park’s bicentenary by reading this book!