“Lots of people (including Austen’s mother) find the heroine Fanny ‘insipid,’ but as a shy person I identify with her and love how she learns to speak up for herself.” Alison Bechdel, New York Times bestselling author
Description
Fanny Price, a poor relation of the rich Bertrams, is reluctantly adopted into the family to be brought up at Mansfield Park, where she is treated condescendingly. Only her cousin Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities. Fanny soon falls in love with him, but Edmund is, unfortunately, drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford. Fanny’s quiet humility, steadfast loyalty, and natural goodness are matched against the wit and brilliance of her lovely rival. The tension is heightened when Henry Crawford, Mary’s equally sophisticated and flirtatious brother, takes an interest in Fanny.
Jane Austen’s subtle, satiric novel skillfully uses her characters’ emotional relationships to explore the social and moral values by which they attempt to order their lives.
Praise
“Lots of people (including Austen’s mother) find the heroine Fanny ‘insipid,’ but as a shy person I identify with her and love how she learns to speak up for herself.” Alison Bechdel, New York Times bestselling author
“The technique of the novels is beyond praise, and has been praised. Her mastery of the art she chose, or that chose her, is complete: how she achieved it no one will ever know.” Elizabeth Bowen, New York Times bestselling author
“Jane Austen paints some witty and perceptive studies of character.” School Library Journal
“Listeners…will be rewarded with Austen’s brilliant commentary on the society of her day and by Johanna Ward’s solid reading…this is a lively and interesting choice for admirers of Jane Austen.” AudioFile
“Never did any novelist make more use of an impeccable sense of human values.” Virginia Woolf, praise for the author
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Dec 31, 1990 |
| Release Date | January 1, 1991 |
| Release Date Machine | 662688000 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Craig Black |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction, Classics, Evergreen Classics, Evergreen Classics, Classics, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Jane Austen (1775–1817) is considered by many scholars to be the first great woman novelist. Born in Steventon, England, she later moved to Bath and began to write for her own and her family’s amusement. Her novels, set in her own English countryside, depict the daily lives of provincial middle-class families with wry observation, a delicate irony, and a good-humored wit.
Narrator Bio
Johanna Ward (a.k.a. Kate Reading) is an Audie Award–winning narrator and has received numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine. She is also a theater actor in the Washington, DC, area and has been a member of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company since 1987. Her work onstage has been recognized by the Helen Hayes Awards Society, among others. She and her husband live in Hyattsville, Maryland, with their two children.
Overview
Fanny Price, a poor relation of the rich Bertrams, is reluctantly adopted into the family to be brought up at Mansfield Park, where she is treated condescendingly. Only her cousin Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities. Fanny soon falls in love with him, but Edmund is, unfortunately, drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford. Fanny’s quiet humility, steadfast loyalty, and natural goodness are matched against the wit and brilliance of her lovely rival. The tension is heightened when Henry Crawford, Mary’s equally sophisticated and flirtatious brother, takes an interest in Fanny.
Jane Austen’s subtle, satiric novel skillfully uses her characters’ emotional relationships to explore the social and moral values by which they attempt to order their lives.
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