Mansfield Park

Fanny Price arrives at Mansfield Park at ten years old, frightened, homesick and conscious that everyone is inspecting her. Her wealthy relatives mean to give her advantages her parents cannot afford, but they also intend her to remember the difference between herself and her cousins. Aunt Norris is especially energetic about proposing acts of kindness for other people to pay for.

Growing up in the Bertram household, Fanny learns to listen while more confident people decide what should happen. Her cousin Edmund offers a kindness she can trust; the fashionable Mary and Henry Crawford bring conversation and a readiness to be amused that enliven the neighbourhood. When the young people begin planning private theatricals, choosing a play and assigning parts becomes an absorbing negotiation over freedom, affection and propriety. Fanny’s reluctance to join in is awkward for everyone who would prefer her to be grateful and agreeable.

This is Austen at her most attentive to the cost of depending on a family. Fanny has strong feelings and firm opinions, yet very little power to make either welcome. Around her, attractive manners can make selfish behaviour easy to excuse, while good intentions are often accompanied by remarkably little care. The novel asks for patient attention to these imbalances, and repays it with scenes in which an apparently minor request carries enormous pressure. Its quieter central figure gives you a different place from which to watch the room: beside the person who notices a great deal and is seldom asked what she thinks.