Mansfield Park
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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. Fannyâs 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, Maryâs equally sophisticated and flirtatious brother, takes an interest in Fanny.
Jane Austenâs subtle, satiric novel skillfully uses her charactersâ emotional relationships to explore the social and moral values by which they attempt to order their lives.
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Jane Austen (1775â1817) 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 familyâs 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.
Johanna Ward (a.k.a. Kate Reading) is an Audie Awardâwinning 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.
