Mansfield Revisited

by Joan Aiken

After the sad demise of Sir Thomas, Edmund Bertram and his new wife Fanny must sail to the West Indies in order to oversee the family’s affairs.Back at Mansfield Park, Fanny’s younger sister Susan is left at the helm. The household faces disarray, and she must guide the estate through gossip and grievances. Yet the news of Henry and Mary Crawford’s return to Mansfield heralds the greatest storm yet. With the arrival of this dangerous pair, romance is once more in the air, and hearts are set to be broken . . .Featuring a cast of characters from Jane Austen's classic, including Susan Price, Thomas Bertram, Lady Bertram, Julia Yates and, of course, the infamous Crawford siblings.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical, Regency, Historical Romance, British Literature

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Joan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.

She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).

Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.

Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.

Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.

Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you ever wonder what came of the folks at Mansfield Park after the finish of that Austen novel? I did. As my second favorite Austen novel, I have spent some time speculating and I love getting my hands on books where someone else has done this as well.

I enjoyed the author's Jane Fairfax, a variation on Emma, so I was pleased to pick up an older copy of Mansfield Revisited. I discovered soon enough that I enjoyed it just as much. Her writing style caught the spirit of Austen's Mansfield Park so well.

The sequel is told through the voice and thoughts of Susan Price who was a minor character in the original. It slowly starts rolling during the necessary time of catching the reader up on the last four years with all the family remaining at Mansfield and those abroad. The catalyst to thing changing in the Mansfield environs involve the death of Sir Thomas and Mrs. Norris which happen just prior to the book and the move back into the neighborhood by someone who had once been intimate with the family.

I daresay many would find this a slow slosh, but I didn't find it so. It was subtle in ways, but rich and engaging. Susan is not like her sister in many ways and her observations about others are sharper and she will make her point when necessary. I enjoyed the byplay between Susan and Tom. I found their exchanges fun and spirited. Julia became the new version of Aunt Norris which I also found fun, in an annoying sort of way. Edmund and Fanny are off scene from nearly the opening pages and the author put in some lovely original characters who were replacing them at the vicarage. William Price makes an appearance and I loved that since he's my favorite minor character from the original.
In the end, after tears were shed over a sad moment, I was quite pleased with the outcome the author gave for the sequel.

Eventually, I'll look up more of her Austenesque works. I recommend this one for those who enjoy Austenesque sequels that hold fairly close to the original.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what made me read this when I did. It certainly wasn’t a deep devotion to either Mansfield Park or Fanny Price that made me long for a continuation of the story. I know I acquired the book a good ways back because Joan Aiken is on my List, and because I was curious about her continuations of Jane Austen… it just slotted itself into my reading schedule, I guess.

So. Four years after the end of Mansfield Park, Fanny and Edmund are happily married and growing a family (MP spoiler! Well, but it’s in the book description); Edmund’s father has died and someone has to go to off to see to things on the plantations, and since every time anyone says “someone” everyone turns and looks at Edmund, off he and Fanny go. And with them neatly out of the way, the focus is free to shift entirely to Fanny’s sister Susan, brought to Mansfield at the end of the book to take Fanny’s place as Lady Bertram’s companion.

It was almost comical how briskly Fanny was ushered out of the book. After all, though, what’s to tell? She’s happy, and having children – how boring. On to Susan, who’s much more interesting anyway. There are new folks in the area – Edmund’s replacement as minister and his sister – and it’s almost comical how much they resemble the Crofts from Persuasion. They’re wonderful people, and bond with Susan, and even make a good impression on the Bertrams, fight though they must against their prejudices; I liked them – but then, I loved the Crofts, so I would do. And there are folks returning to the area: Mary Crawford, for one, who is ill and has fled her life of dissipation. Which of course now, as she begins to build a friendship with Susan, turns out to have been not so very dissipated, and she was wronged, and anyway she’s probably dying now so it’s all right. And then, of course, where Mary goes eventually Henry Crawford shows up – and you know, he’s not such a bad fellow, either. He was awfully in love with Fanny … but she’s married and not here anyway, and hey look here’s her little sister! It’s Fanny Lite! Maybe I have a shot with her … And of course as soon as it becomes clear that Crawford is sniffing around Susan, Cousin Tom Bertram wakes up to the fact that she’s of age now and no longer the uncouth plaguey nuisance of a child.

I don’t know. I have a great deal of respect for Joan Aiken, but this just seemed ill-advised from start to finish. All of the inconveniences from Jane Austen – Fanny, Mrs. Norris, Maria – have been surgically removed, and inconvenient aspects of other characters have undergone extensive plastic surgery, and really why not just write a whole new standalone novel? It was very hard to swallow the rehabilitation of two selfish, thoughtless, amoral characters. And the ending was … abrupt, and felt disjointed. It just didn’t work.

[Lisa Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me begin by admitting a vastly unpopular sentiment among "Mansfield Park" fans: I greatly prefer patient, long-suffering (oft-maligned) Fanny Price to devious sociopath Mary Crawford. This opinion, I realize, makes me one of very few people who have ever lived.

With that disclaimer out of the way, if you care to read on:

Plucky Susan Price -- younger sister to the aforementioned Fanny -- finds herself at the center of Joan Aiken's "Mansfield Park Revisited," a fairly consistent sequel to Austen's third novel. With Edmund & Fanny in Antigua, attending to the Bertram family's interests there, following the death of Sir Thomas, young Susan Price (now 18) has ascended in her prominence within the Mansfield Park household, much to Tom Bertram's dismay. Every bit as indispensable to Lady Bertram as elder sister Fanny once was, Susan manages her duties with efficiency and confidence -- perhaps a bit too much confidence, for Tom's liking. She is a bit too forward, a bit too brash, and far too opinionated -- precisely the opposite of Fanny; and quite unlike Mary Crawford, Susan is entirely endearing.

The Beautiful Sociopaths -- Mary & Henry Crawford -- return as well, chastened and quite different since last we saw them. Mary spends most of her time in her sick bed, and Henry spends much of his time away. As one might expect, Henry transfers his affections; Tom discovers several spousal candidates; and the book's resolution is swift, abrupt, and somewhat unexpected (which is the reason for the less than stellar rating).

Recommended for "Mansfield Park" fans who appreciate a heroine who is pluckier than Fanny and less self-absorbed than Mary, Aiken's book is worth a look.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mansfield Park Revisited takes the characters from Jane Austen's least popular novel and continues the story. Always wondered what happens to Mary Crawford, Tom Bertram, or Susan Price?
Well, now you can find out.
The book is, in some ways, a mixed bag. The language sounds very Austen. The plus side of this is that I was never jarred out of the story because of anachronistic language or more Heyer-like period slang. The downside is that I do not even find Austen super readable and I know where those plots are going. Reading without any idea what would happen next made it...often a matter of willpower to keep going.
The plot itself was fun enough but especially as the conclusion drew nearer, it just turned into Mansfield Park 2.0 but with a different Price sister. Characters also lacked much development outside of Susan.
I guess I'm glad she ended up with Tom but also skeptical. We're told they'd make a great couple...it certainly is set up for them to be one...but I never actually saw any spark between the two of them. Meanwhile, Henry Crawford had 0 personality so I never bought that she WOULD have him. The reader needs to be privy to more than two conversations!
Speaking of abrupt and undeveloped, Tom falling in love with Mary came out of nowhere as well.
If you like Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen, you will likely enjoy this one.

[Ceri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was first published on Babblings of a Bookworm: http://babblingsofabookworm.blogspot....

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!

[Anna]

I read Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park in 2008, so the book wasn’t fresh in my mind when I picked up Mansfield Park Revisited by the late Joan Aiken, though I did remember enough to follow the goings on in Aiken’s sequel. When Mansfield Park Revisited opens, four years have passed since the events that transpired in Mansfield Park. Austen’s heroine Fanny Price has married her cousin Edmund Bertram and moved to the parsonage, and her younger sister, Susan, has taken her place as companion to the brainless and basically helpless Lady Bertram. Sir Thomas Bertram has died, and his eldest son, Tom, assumes the role of head of Mansfield Park. It is decided that Edmund, Fanny, and their infant son will travel to the Caribbean to see to Sir Thomas’ business affairs, leaving their toddler daughter in Susan’s care and staying out of the picture for pretty much the entire book.

When reading Mansfield Park, I found Fanny to be a boring heroine. She’s made to feel unwelcome at Mansfield Park, and (from what I remember) she just accepts her status as a second-class citizen, being too good-natured to speak up for herself or think ill of the Bertrams. Thank goodness her sister, Susan, while much like Fanny in terms of goodness and compassion, is more lively and a bit more willing to speak freely because she is the main focus of Mansfield Park Revisited.

Although Fanny and Edmund are largely absent, Aiken does revisit several of the characters from Austen’s novel. Lady Bertram is still weak and clueless, and Tom and his sister, Julia, both are still arrogant and critical of those deemed socially inferior, i.e. Susan. She introduces several new characters, namely Mr. Wadham, the minister who takes Edmund’s place during his travels, and his widowed sister, Mrs. Osborne, who becomes a close friend of Susan’s and steals the show with her boisterous personality.

However, several of the more interesting (though annoying) characters from Mansfield Park are missing, though mentioned in passing — Maria Bertram and Aunt Norris. Of course the notorious Mary and Henry Crawford return to Mansfield Park, much to the chagrin of Tom and Julia. Four years prior when the Crawfords were staying at Mansfield, they befriended the Bertrams, with Mary winning the affections of Edmund and Henry flirting with the married Maria and setting his sights on meek Fanny. Needless to say, the Crawfords are not welcome at Mansfield, but when Susan is given a letter addressed to Fanny and learns that Mary Crawford is ill and hoping to recover at Mansfield, Susan welcomes them with open arms. Their appearance causes some tension between Susan and Tom.

While I enjoyed the book and think Aiken had a great command of scene and a good grasp of Austen’s characters, I wish the Crawfords in Mansfield Park Revisited were more like the Crawfords in Mansfield Park. If they were up to their old antics, there would have been more humor, more drama, and more tension throughout the book. Of course, a sequel wouldn’t be true to Jane Austen if there wasn’t romance, and one of Aiken’s pairings, seemed to come out of nowhere, meaning there was no satisfactory build up to the moment in which their love for one another was expressed. And at the same time, it’s fairly predictable.

Overall, I recommend Mansfield Park Revisited if you like Austen sequels. Although it lacks the tension and the humor I’d anticipated and true fans of Mansfield Park might lament the absence of Fanny and Edmund and be disappointed by Aiken’s handling of the Crawfords, it was an acceptable sequel to one of Austen’s lesser loved novels.

Review posted on Diary of an Eccentric

[Meredith (Austenesque Reviews) · Rating 3 out of 5]

TYPE OF AUSTENESQUE NOVEL: Sequel to Mansfield Park, Minor Character

TIME FRAME: Begins 4 years after the close of Mansfield Park

MAIN CHARACTERS: Susan Price, Tom Bertram, Mrs. Julia Yates, Lady Bertram, Henry Crawford, Mary Crawford, Mr. Wadham (a reverend filling in for Edmund temporarily) and Mrs. Osbourne (Mr. Wadham’s sister who is helpful and devoted to caring for her neighbors),

WHY I WANTED TO READ THIS NOVEL:

- In celebration of Mansfield Park‘s Bicentennial, I thought I should read at least 1 Mansfield Park inspired Austenesque novel this year
- I’ve read so few MP inspired novels – just 4!
- I’ve read Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken and loved it!!! It was my first JAFF ever!


SYNOPSIS:

Poor Sir Thomas has passed away and dutiful Edmund travels to Antigua with his wife, Fanny, to settle the family’s business affairs there. Leaving Susan and Lady Bertram in the company of domineering and brusque Tom – the newly appointed Sir Thomas, the meddlesome Mrs. Yates, and any new or old friends…that find themselves in the vicinity of Mansfield. Guess which infamous brother and sister just happen to travel into the county again???

WHAT I LOVED:

- A Spirited Heroine: Susan is adorable! I loved how she was dutiful, moral, and compassionate, but at the same time she has a quick temper, a plucky attitude, and a mind of her own. Even though she is warned to stay away from the Crawfords, she decides to meet them and form her own opinion. I enjoyed seeing her sharp exchanges with Tom, private thoughts about Lady Bertram’s indolence, annoyance with Julia Yates’s meddlesome opinions, and her devotion and admiration for her siblings, Fanny and William.

- Wonderful Characters and Characterization: Joan Aiken did a marvelous job of matching each character’s personality and emulating their voice. It felt she not only understood these characters but had a certain fondness for them as well. I especially enjoyed her new creations Mr. Wadham, Mrs. Osbourne, and Julia’s imperious and prissy sister-in-law, Miss Yates. In addition, I thought it quite humorous and fitting that Julia Yates, who we must assume is unhappy with her imprudent choices, steps into Mrs. Norris’s role quite perfectly. With her daily visits to Mansfield and penchant for managing the affairs of others, she has become the new Mrs. Norris – the character we love to hate!

- Henry Crawford Can Be Redeemed: I love the idea of Henry Crawford transforming or changing into a good, honorable man “for the love of a good woman.” The author chooses, in a very believable way to exonerate Henry from his crimes in Mansfield Park – a part I greatly enjoyed. But I wish she did more with him in this tale instead of illustrate how he has a broken heart filled with unrequited love. I loved how he was a little bit of a mystery to Susan. She’s heard the stories of his past, but when new information comes to light and Susan meets him in person, she has to determine for herself who is Henry Crawford really…

WHAT I WASN’T TOO FOND OF:

- A Decided Lack of Romance: Similar to Mansfield Park, there isn’t much in the way of romance in this novel. Even though she is surrounded by several eligible bachelors, Susan – judging by her thoughts and remarks – doesn’t hold any of them in special regard. It isn’t until the very end that she discovers her unknown feelings for someone and vice versa. I would have loved to have this romance developed more and featured throughout the story, rather than just at the very end. A tad disappointed.

- What was the Purpose?: Although I loved learning more about all the characters of Mansfield Park, I often felt myself wondering at their inclusion in this story. The story-lines involving Mary, Henry, Maria Rushworth, while interesting, didn’t really seem to have much purpose or impact – especially in the case of Maria and her tarnished reputation.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, I’m quite pleased with this sequel to Mansfield Park. I loved Joan Aiken’s style of writing and appreciated her affinity for Jane Austen’s characters. I look forward to reading more by Joan Aiken, although I’m pretty sure Jane Fairfax will forever remain my favorite. :)

Austenesque Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I believe,” [Mrs Osborne] said, “that Mansfield has a particular charm, a particular power to instil affection into the hearts of those who reside here.”

Set a scant four years after the end of Jane Austen’s third published novel Mansfield Park (1814), Mansfield Revisited reveals that Sir Thomas Bertram has just died, and that his son Edmund, now married to Fanny Price, has to leave the village where he’s now rector and travel overseas to settle the family estate’s affairs in Antigua.

They leave behind one of their two young infants, Mary, in the charge of Fanny’s 18 year old sister Susan Price, herself the companion to the indolent Lady Bertram in place of Fanny. Patronised by Tom, the remaining son of Sir Thomas, and subjected to consistent carping from Julia – one of the married Bertram daughters – Susan is expected to act as Mansfield’s chatelaine but without due credit given to her efforts.

Susan’s only friends are Edward’s replacement, the curate Mr Wadham with his widowed sister Elinor, on whom she relies for civil conversations and sensible advice. But who is the new resident at the cottage adjacent to the mansion, and what scandals are trailing in her wake?

This, the first of Aiken’s ‘Jane Austen entertainments’, I found hugely enjoyable. Not only do we get to learn more concerning Susan, about whom the Regency writer gave us tantalising hints at the end of the original novel, but we also feel that this account is wholly in the spirit of Austen – the sense of the course of love not running smooth, for example, or the interactions that Austen described so subtly yet wittily about misunderstandings arising from pique, snobbishness, or foolish reserve.

Susan is a more spirited version of the mousey Fanny, whom we scarcely miss because effectively absent for most of the narrative. Seeing everything from her point of view we share in her frustrations, delights, setbacks and successes, much as we’d expect from any other Austen heroine. For Susan there’s even a counterpart to Fanny’s bête noire Mrs Norris, a character so unpleasant that Filch the caretaker’s cat in the Harry Potter series was named after her.

And what of the invalid who has taken occupancy of the cottage, a woman as mired in scandal as her absent brother but who appears to be suffering from the dreaded wasting disease of consumption? How does her arrival change the dynamics of the mansion’s owners and will matters come to a satisfactory conclusion?

It’s all delightfully conveyed in Austenesque language with suitable period spellings. Only one spoken word struck me as anachronistic – “altruistic”, a term which only really started to achieve currency a half century after Austen’s death; but the rest – doat, stept, chuse, and so on – securely anchored the story in the second decade of the 19th century and helped persuade me that our Regency doyenne really could well have written this sequel!

Although Fanny Price hasn’t been every reader’s favourite Austen protagonist, that doesn’t stop the Mansfield mansion itself from enchanting the reader with the “particular charm” that Elinor Osborne believes bespells the property. Aiken doesn’t choose to address the issue of the Bertrams relying on slavery to manage their Antigua estates – the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 didn’t coincide with the abolition of slavery itself– as that would’ve required a different kind of novel; instead she focuses on Mansfield’s potential to instil affection into the hearts of at least some of its residents, the type that neither demanded nor controlled.

“One of the lessons I have learned, here at Mansfield, is that we must not seek to govern one another.”

One doesn’t have to read the Austen original to enjoy this sequel: it stands well enough on its own merits. But having read Aiken’s entertainment you may well feel the urge to visit Mansfield for the first time. If you do, don’t resist!

[Abby Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first reaction upon hearing the plot:

Oh. MY. GOD.

Runs to Amazon to buy a used copy.



Did it live up to my expectations?

More or less, yeah.

Honestly, after some of the Mansfield Park based duds I've come across, all I really required to love this was good writing and Tom Bertram and Susan Price to get married at the end, and it delivered that, so I'm mostly happy.

If you ship Tom/Susan, you'll probably adore this book. It's true we don't get a single kiss or dance between them, even though there's a ball (what was up with that, Aiken? Not one lousy dance? Even Austen let us have an Edmund/Fanny dance in the original, so what gives?), but the overall cuteness of their relationship makes up for it.

There's this one ADORABLE scene where Tom proposes (at last), but manages to do it in what Susan sees to be the most unromantic way possible. He pretty much just cries out, "Don't marry Henry Crawford, marry ME!"

It very much of reminds me of my favorite Robin/Maria scene in The Little White Horse, where Robin is all, "You're not going to marry some guy from LONDON, you're going to marry ME!"

I just loved it so darn much!



And the writing is gorgeous while succinct. It says in such a short amount of words things it would take other writers (myself included) way more pages to get across so vividly. And there were all these amazing little throwaway details, like Susan's brother John being her favorite sibling (the way William is for Fanny) but his being passive like Lady Bertram and failing to keep in touch with letters. That's so brilliant, it's seeped into my personal MP head canon now.

And I loved Mary Crawford's death scene, where it finally rains just before she succumbed to her illness. So she didn't get to see Fanny and Edmund again, but she became friends with Susan, and she got her wished-for rain at the last minute. That's beautiful. Sad, but beautiful. Just gorgeous.

However, there were a few things I took issue with and really wish Aiken hadn't gone the route of in her novel.

1) redemption for Henry Crawford at Maria Bertram's expense.

Just no. Look, Maria isn't a saint, and I'm not saying it would be out of character for her, but I hated this narrative that she supposedly lied about her affair with Crawford just to separate him from Fanny out of pure spite and he, dove eyed innocent, went along with it.



She's probably more than capable of that, but it's giving Henry Crawford way too much credit. The point of the original was that he was selfish, inconstant, and couldn't be satisfied with the love of one woman when he didn't win her right away. This new narrative makes him a victim and implies he WAS loyal to Fanny but Maria me tooed him out of his chance for true love.



I guess it's supposed to make the idea that he (in rather an uncharacteristic, round about way, which was super confusing) goes after Susan, wanting to marry Fanny 2.0 now, less creepy. But here's the thing: it doesn't. At all.

Not only do I not buy it, the narrative couldn't give it away and offer free ice cream to make me take it.



2) Julia Yates is the new Aunt Norris. And she HATES Susan so gosh darn much because the plot says she's supposed to now.

Wait, why?



Don't get me wrong, this one I actually buy in the context it was presented, unlike the redeemed Crawford bullsheet; Aiken makes it work surprisingly well. Except... I just wanted something better for Julia. I wanted her to be in love with Yates and be on the way to becoming a better person, not turning into her aunt.

It works, but if Aiken HAD to make Maria a liar, she could have humanized Julia. We don't need them BOTH to be evil harpies.

3) Mary Crawford's being a flirty amoral b*tch with no conscience is what made Tom Bertram a better person... Not the fact that he was ill and learned to think and be kind at death's door.

Oh, boy...

My reaction:



No, seriously, this one bothers me A LOT. I can get over the Julia Yates villianized thing, I can excuse the Henry Crawford didn't really sleep with Maria thing because it's conveyed in dialogue and is sort of ambiguous in some parts; Susan doubts it enough not to marry him. It's okay. But having Tom's whole character development from the original reduced to a sudden crush on a dying Mary Crawford?



Tom is the closest thing we have to a redeemed bad boy in any Austen novel. And it was because HE decided to change, not some romcom nonsense! Don't take that away from me!



And let's talk about Mary for a second. She gets pity from the narrative, because she's dying and she's Susan's best friend for a fair chunk of the book, but what she does to "redeem" Tom is actually kind of horrible.

She flirts with a man who has just had a serious accident and is in no position to leave her dwelling and clear his head from her flirty bombardment, a man who made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with her, makes him fall half in love with her despite knowing they can't be together (and if she miraculously got better, I don't think she'd have married him either), fills him with possible lifelong guilt for worsening her sickly condition, then says she did a GOOD thing?



Seriously, though, why the duck is she torturing this poor baronet? Wasn't it bad enough that years before she wanted him to kick the bucket so she could run off into the sunset with his brother and his money?



She knows what she's doing too! She even tells Susan basically "don't mention this to Fanny, she wouldn't understand the good in it".

(As a little aside here, I think this book is oddly slightly more "Emma"-esque than Mansfield Park esque, more about meddling and match-making and less about constancy and loyalty and learning to appreciate the love that was there all along; even the picnic that goes awry and eventually leads up to Tom's accident is very "box hill"ish. It's not a bad thing by any means, but if you're a die-hard MP fan, somewhat misled by certain reviews to think Tom and Susan's eventual romance will be very similar in tone and theme to Edmund/Fanny, you may be surprised by this. If there's something about the tone of this that definitely feels Austen and time period correct but just not really "Mansfield Park" like, and the reader can't quite put their finger on it, it's probably the whole general "Emma" vibe this book gives off.)

This was still a five star book despite the stuff I've complained about, though, which really proves how amazingly well done the writing was, and I definitely recommend it whole heartedly.

Just be aware of what you're getting into. If you're pro-Bertram/Price a few parts might chafe your sensibilities. Whereas if you're pro-Crawford, you'll be disappointed one dies and the other doesn't get his lady again.

[Georgiana 1792 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una vera eroina per Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park Revisited è un sequel in senso stretto del terzo romanzo pubblicato da Jane Austen ma, nel contempo, è uno spin-off, in quanto i due protagonisti del romanzo originale, Fanny ed Edmund, vengono spediti all'estero per sistemare gli affari delle proprietà di famiglia nelle Indie Occidentali alla morte di Sir Thomas Bertram; mancano così per buona parte del libro, come se fossero due presenze scomode. Del resto, è risaputo che nei sequel è sempre meglio sviluppare le storie di personaggi secondari, a meno che non si voglia proprio stravolgere il romanzo austeniano, facendo accadere qualcosa di imprevisto ai protagonisti. Uno stravolgimento che forse, nel caso di Mansfield Park, non sarebbe stato completamente sgradito.

Così la Aiken ambienta il romanzo alcuni anni dopo Mansfield Park con un ricambio dei personaggi che ho paragonato a quella che potrebbe essere una "seconda stagione" di un telefilm di successo. Alcuni personaggi sono convenientemente morti, altri sono partiti, come se non fosse stato "rinnovato il contratto" agli attori, ma i ruoli dei nuovi arrivati sembrano invariati. La parte della protagonista è assunta da Susan, la sorella più giovane di Fanny che già alla fine di MP l'aveva sostituita nel far compagnia alla zia, Lady Bertram.

C'è ancora un Sir Thomas, solo che adesso si tratta di suo figlio, che in Mansfield Park era il classico rampollo della piccola nobiltà, dedito solo a ozio e dissipazione. Magnifica la scena in cui spiega alla cugina che non si proporrà a Miss Louisa Harley prima di Natale, per non rovinarsi la stagione di caccia! Mansfield Park Revisited è anche il suo romanzo di formazione, la storia di un giovane che dovrà affrontare le responsabilità della sua eredità, lasciando da parte ogni frivolezza.

Julia, ora Mrs. Yates, sembra essere, da brava nipote, la degna erede di Mrs. Norris, da poco defunta. Deve, tuttavia, affinare un po' la sua tecnica, perché, se è vero che si intromette in tutte le faccende, non sempre è pragmatica come la zia, che riusciva quasi sempre a far scorrere tutto liscio, raggiungendo invariabilmente i suoi obiettivi.

Nella canonica, alla partenza di Fanny ed Edmund, arrivano Mr. Wandham e sua sorella vedova, Mrs. Osborne. Quest'ultima è un personaggio davvero azzeccato, una rivisitazione bonaria della pettegola incallita, quasi una Mrs. Jennings più intelligente.

Il titolo Mansfield Park Revisited è dunque quanto mai azzeccato, perché protagonista è la dimora immutabile, l'edificio attorno a cui ruotano le vicende umane. In questo Lady Bertram rappresenta un simbolo, essendo l'unico personaggio invariato rispetto al personaggio di Jane Austen che, con la sua indifferenza egoista, è quasi un elemento del mobilio della dimora, sempre stesa sul suo divano con l'immancabile carlino.

L'eroina del romanzo, Susan, è più vivace e risoluta (forse anche lei ha ereditato qualcosa dalla zia Norris) e dunque più simpatica della sorella Fanny. È evidente che la Aiken, come tantissimi lettori, abbia trovato Fanny insulsa e sopravvalutata nel ruolo di eroina. Ed ecco che compare un'altra Miss Price che, con una praticità tutta plebea, nata dall'aver vissuto per quattordici anni – e non solo dieci – nell'affollatissima casa di Porthsmouth, priva di comodità, non esita a prendere il timone di Mansfield Park; a maggior ragione ora che è rimasta l'unica persona di buonsenso nella proprietà.
Quindi, mentre Fanny era passiva e, pur avendo una sua opinione, preferiva affidarsi a Edmund per prendere decisioni, Susan non ha paura di fare le sue scelte, sicura di far sempre la cosa più giusta per Mansfield Park e per chi la abita.

C'è da dire che la Aiken, finché deve creare dei personaggi di sana pianta, lo fa nel migliore dei modi. Ma, non appena va a toccare il materiale originale di Jane Austen, lo appiattisce, come se passasse un potente ferro da stiro sulle immagini che abbiamo tanto chiare in mente. Questo, francamente, mi infastidisce moltissimo, perché spero sempre che una scrittrice del suo calibro mantenga la fedeltà all'originale, se proprio non deve aggiungere nulla di più. Lei, invece, opera sempre questa sottrazione che fa sentire il lettore letteralmente rapinato.
I due personaggi di Henry Crawford e di Mary vengono così stravolti. Lei diventa una vera e propria martire, un angelo di virtù, cosa che in Mansfield Park non sembrava affatto. Anche lui è "rivalutato" e viene considerato vittima della vendetta di Maria e innamorato di Fanny, fedele al suo ricordo tanto che, dopo il suo rifiuto, non ha più cercato altre donne. Una tristissima ombra di uno dei personaggi tra i più sfaccettati tra quelli creati da Jane Austen, insomma.

Per rivisitare il romanzo la Aiken non fa mancare le situazioni che rispecchiano quelle dell'originale come, ad esempio, il ballo di debutto di Susan, che richiama quello in cui Fanny fu lanciata in società dallo zio, o la gita alla ricerca delle rovine romane, che, con il suo continuo intrecciarsi dei personaggi, tra ricerche, raggiungimenti, dimenticanze e attese, sembra proprio riprendere di pari passo la gita a Sotherton. Divertentissimi alcuni incidenti, che vivacizzano il racconto.

Lo stile è davvero pregevole, molto vicino a Jane Austen nelle espressioni, anche perché prende in prestito alcune battute dai personaggi di altri romanzi, come quando Julia Yates critica l'aspetto delle persone di mare (come Sir Walter in Persuasion) o la promessa del ballo e della white soup di Mr. Bingley, qui espressa da Mrs. Osborne a Mrs. Norris.

In definitiva il migliore tra i derivati della Aiken sinora letti, sebbene moltissime soluzioni finali lascino il lettore perplesso e col desiderio che si fossero approfondite meglio alcune situazioni e alcuni personaggi.
Insomma, Mansfield Park è rivisitato anche nel lasciare l'insoddisfazione di un finale un po' insipido, privo di gratificazioni evidenti. Ma, in fondo, Mansfield Park è sempre lì, immutabile, e chissà quante altre storie potrebbe raccontare...

Potete trovare la recensione completa QUI

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was certainly entertaining. Some very amusing moments. And three violations of my #1 JAFF rule...grrrr! One of them seemed very much Deus ex Machina. THE AUTHOR:"Miss Aiken... might I speak to you about what you did to/with MY characters..."

[Meredith Galman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've always been a big fan of Joan Aiken's children's books, but her books for adults, not so much. Here she takes Mansfield Park, the least agreeable of all Jane Austen's works, and sucks the life out of it. Any interest readers may have in the characters derive entirely from Austen, since Aiken doesn't bother to give us any character development or insight of her own (we're told repeatedly how fascinating Mary Crawford is, for example, but we never see it). Aiken rewrites history to suggest that Henry Crawford is not a vile seducer, because her plot requires it, but it's difficult to care. It's also difficult to work up any enthusiasm for the heroine, Fanny Price's younger sister Susan, because Aiken never lets us into her interior life. Her romances with both Henry and Tom Bertram are barely credible. If you're going to write bad Regencies, authors, create your own situations and leave poor Austen alone.

[Christina Baehr]

I shouted NO at basically every plot decision Aiken made in this one. More thoughts later one why this did not work for me at all, while JANE FAIRFAX very much did.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set several years after Mansfield Park, this book follows Fanny's younger, bolder sister Susan. Four years ago she came to stay as a companion to Lady Bertram, and has bloomed into a handsome, intelligent teenager. Aiken has a good feel for the Regency--her book has none of that feeling of stiffness that most modern authors stumble into. The plot and romance, however, are disappointing. Fanny and Edward go off to the far-off plantation, leaving Susan at the mercy of her indifferent relations, the fallen Maria, and the Crawfords, who conviently return to Mansfield. None of these possible plot points come to anything. Lady Bertram and Tom think she's inndispensible and wonderful. Maria, whose ruin and iminent return to Mansfield are discussed at length, never speaks and in fact, is only seen from the distance once. Her bad reputation does not make any trouble for the Bertram family. Mary Crawford has inexplicably transformed into a saint who helps Susan get together with her one true love. And most odd of all, the author spends at least half the novel making it clear that Henry Crawford is at worst a mild flirt, is in fact devoted to Fanny, Susan and his sister, and would never dream of having an affair with anyone. There's no tension, no suspense, and absolutely no drama. There is certainly no romance. Even ten pages from the end Susan doesn't seem to be even remotely attracted to anyone, and then abruptly she says, "of course I'll marry you! I've always loved you!" and the book ends.
A disappointing read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

My main problem with this book was the same one I had with Joan Aiken's Jane Fairfax: She seemed to reach a certain page limit, then say, "Oh, I've got somewhere to be and I need to wrap this up. So... everything worked out this way and these people realized they were in love all along even though there was nothing leading up to this elsewhere in the book." I sort of picture her playing with her characters like Barbie and Ken dolls and she just sort of picked a couple of them at random and mashed their faces together.

That said, like with Jane Fairfax, it was quite enjoyable up to that point.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written continuation pf MP with the addition of Fanny's sister who has come to look after Lacy Bertram. Crawfords are back and it's a mystery whether they are all goodness or up to their old tricks.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mansfield Park featured Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram happily married at the end of the story. It also had Fanny's sister Susan Price living at Mansfield Park as a companion to Lady Bertram, the mother of Edmund, Tom, Julia and Maria. Mansfield Price Revisited, a sequel by Joan Aiken, a writer who pens delightful possible sequels to Jane Austin novels, has re-created a likely conclusion to the fortunes of the Mansfield Park residents with enjoyable results. The multilayered community of Mansfield and surrounding environs includes the longtime residents, impactful visitors Henry and Mary Crawford, and Pastor Wadham and his sister Mrs. Osborne. Navigating the mores of the characters in all their unvarnished demeanors finds Susan Price entangled in a romance, scandal, surprise and redemption. Mansfield Price Revisited is a rousing and engaging read that will have the reader searching for other possible sequels by Joan Aiken.

[Eva-Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would've been three stars but the ending was unbearable cringe.

[Jenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

QUITE charming. A bit abrupt at the end there, but still delightful.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Joan Aiken, she wrote brilliant and prolific works of literature (multitude of different genres too!). Been re-reading all her works this year, and having so much fun! Many people don't realize she wrote wonderful Jane Austen sequels. So far, Jane Fairfax and Eliza's Daughter are my absolute faves. I did enjoy this though!

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book in the style of Jane Austen. I have read it twice and will read it again. I love the way she expanded the characters with this new story. She very much showed the characters like Jane Austen wrote them. Really impressed. I send this book and her other books to friends and relatives as presents. If you like Jane Austen, you will enjoy reading this book.

[Janna Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. I feel like Jane Aiken really captures the cadence of Austen's writing style. However, it felt a little too derivative for me to really love it. Looking at the characters and plot from Mansfield Park, there are just a few TOO many parallels.

Basically, Susan = Fanny, Tom = Edmund, and Henry and Mary Crawford are themselves, although somewhat chastened since their Mansfield Park days. Susan and Mary become friends like Fanny and Mary did (although Susan's friendship with Mary is definitely less one-sided); Mary wants Henry and Susan to end up together (although she's much less pushy than she was with Fanny); Henry expresses interest in Susan (but not nearly as much as he did in Fanny); Tom supposedly falls in love with Mary (but not to the point of wanting to marry her as Edmund did; it's almost mentioned as an afterthought); Tom and Susan eventually end up together (although Susan wasn't pining away for him like Fanny with Edmund). I mean, I liked it, but it was a bit much.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful book! I thought the beginning was a little wobbly (but then I was on the rebound from "Orley Farm"-Trollope so it's hard to follow that) but about halfway thru I found that, even though I was very sick with a virus/sinus/earache something that this book was superior to sleep! I do so love sleep. I think about it when awake, relish that first moment getting all snuggled under the covers, feel lucky to be there in my comfy bed, etc. Anyway, the story's momentum really did get moving halfway thru and I was found surprises around every corner. I do love NOT knowing what's going to happen next. This writer pulled it off effortlessly. I bought it and did not have buyer's regret. I would recommend this book to all my fellow Janeites except those purists (you know who you are, I used to be one too) that refuse to consider such a book.

[lézengő reader]

korrekt

[Cathy Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I emerge from this book with mixed feelings. To begin, the writing is excellent and entirely consistent with the period without veering into the awkward wording sometimes met in Regency Novels. Aiken creates original characters who are likable even if they are not fully-rounded or offer anything new in the literary sense. If you are new to Austen or not a stickler, I can assure you this book will delight and entertain you.

But I just can't give this book more than three stars.

I do understand the author was working with existing materials, and there's something to be said for Artistic License, but I found some of the deviations from the source material to be inexplicable. The book opens four years after Susan Price has come to Mansfield Park (the estate) -- so approximately the age of Fanny Price at the time the Crawfords arrive in Mansfield ParkMansfield Park (the novel) -- well balanced narratively. However, it requires the readers to ignore much to the closing of the original novel. Austen explains that she's not giving us a timeline for the closing events because she wants to reader to imagine it for themselves. However, she's very clear about:

Point One: Edmund and Fanny marrying and taking up residence at Thornton Lacy for some period of time, before Dr. Grant's death makes the Mansfield Living available again. Austen mentions that Sir Thomas is a frequent visitor to Thornton Lacy either to fetch Fanny or spend time with her and Edmund. Aiken's timeline seems to skip or dismiss the Thornton Lacy years altogether in favor of making Susan the correct age for the narrative.

Point Two: At eighteen, Susan is essentially running Mansfield Park. Narratively, there is an assumption that Aunt Norris ran the household in Mansfield Park before she went away to live with Maria. Textually, I do not believe there is much evidence for or against this point. Austen doesn't go into the details of who had final say on household matter, but I feel the Bertram's employed a very good butler (Baddeley) and probably an efficient Housekeeper who's goal it was to make Lady Bertram's life smooth sailing.

Aiken's narrative has Susan emerging from the chaotic Price household to take on the day to day running of large house. Let me stress, Susan's character is WELL-WRITTEN and does come across as someone capable of running Mansfield Park; but based on textual evidence, I'd say Susan was behaving as a mature woman in her mid-20s. I find it difficult to believe that Susan -- plucky courage and all -- would be in charge of much more than the tea tray at Mansfield Park. That's what Sir Thomas paid the servants to do.

Point Three: Julia Bertram Yates has two little boys (twins?) who have been born over the course of four years. Similarly, Fanny has a little girl who is specifically identified as being age three. Even presuming that Julia and Yates only had nine months start on Fanny and Edmund (which does not seem likely), their little boys can only be slightly older than Fanny's Mary and given the Aiken's timeline, it would be impossible for them to be older than the age of four. However, whenever the boys are released upon the scene, their behavior indicates a more developed skill set. Aiken herself tells us that Little Mary is "deemed too young to join" the others on the picnic to the Roman Ruins, but Julia brings her wild boys with no nursemaid in tow to make this at all credible.

Point Four: Aiken has ignored the source material and states that Susan Price has never met Henry Crawford. I think this point is what holds me back from giving this book additional stars. From the beginning of the scene where Henry Crawford turns up a Mansfield to ask for a favor (itself an unlikely thing unless he was scheming), I expected Susan to make a comparison between the Crawford he'd met in Portsmouth and the Reformed Rake of this narrative. Nope. Aiken's Susan has never met Crawford and it isn't entirely clear, but I got the impression that Crawford's visit to Fanny in Portsmouth doesn't happen in Aiken's timeline.

[Debbie Priddey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really don't know how I feel about this! Most of it, I really enjoyed. Mansfield Park is a favourite book, and I thought the author caught the atmosphere very well. I liked the fact that Susan was a little different to Fanny - still solicitous and calm, but with more self-assurance, which she would have with Fanny's care.

Ugh! I just don't know how I felt about Tom! In some ways, I wanted Fanny to find love with the kindly vicar or William's sailor friend. But then, that would mean her leaving Mansfield and she clearly loved the place, so it had to be Tom... The trouble is, I didn't see any emotional connection between them for most of the book.

I loved Mary. Actually, I didn't complete dislike her in the original, and I had no problem with her 'rehabilitation'. I could see why she and Susan could have become good friends. It was sad that she didn't live to see Fanny and Edmund again, as I do feel she wanted to make amends. The scene with their daughter was touching.

Regarding Crawford...well, I didn't totally have a problem with the idea that Maria had blackened his name and that he'd be just enough of a gentleman not to publicly disabuse her, but I could NOT believe that he'd never found anyone to replace Fanny. I also don't think he saw enough of Susan to fall for her.

Crawford was basically there to make Tom jealous, and I guess that bit worked well - stupid Julia misinterpreting Crawford's intentions and convincing Tom. The only problem was that I couldn't believe in Tom declaring himself so soon after being in love with Mary.

Basically, the entire section from the scene between Crawford and Tom until the end was FAR too short. I would have liked Fanny and Edmund to return and for the sisters to have had a heart-to-heart, for Susan and Tom to have licked their wounds for a while, and then for Tom to have got over Mary and gradually realised it was Susan he loved. I would also have preferred for Susan to show some signs that she loved him too. There would have been scope for her to feel some jealousy. And why on earth didn't they dance at least once at the ball? A missed opportunity for them to see each other as more than an annoying cousin. I think if there had been even a suggestion of something between them, I could have accepted the ending more.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. To begin with, Aiken has Jane Austen’s writing style down pat and that makes the read enjoyable. The story line was a revisiting of the original with Fanny and Ed shipped conveniently off to Antigua. They would have been too perceptive about the emotions of others. I did wonder about F & E’s reaction to life on a plantation. It would have added a realistic layer to the story if correspondence or actual narrative had shown compassionate, humane reaction to the misery of the “servants” as Julia called them. I think E would have freed the slaves and hired them to work for wages, even if it nearly bankrupted the family.

The main line of the story should have resolved the sad lives of Mary and Henry. Why reintroduce them to Mansfield just to let Mary die and Henry skive off to parts unknown? Why have Tom injure himself and recover in Mary’s parlor, and become infatuated only to have her die?

No, the tale would have been much more satisfying if Susan had married Henry and cleared his name with her sterling character and honest testimony. Then Mary could recover and become the lively mistress of Mansfield causing Julia to vow never to darken the doors again. Mary could even have encouraged Lady Bertram to engage in life a little with some tea parties and harp playing (and maybe less laudanum). After all, Susan showed nothing but irritation with Tom through the whole book until the last page. Tom’s affections hopped from one girl to another…who wants that? And Henry was good and kind and deserved better.

I won’t worry about age differences at this point, but still…

So Austenites may enjoy the story, but take issue with the outcomes.

[Sally Poppenbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I’m a massive Joan Aiken fan, and also have a soft spot for Mansfield Park, despite Fanny’s occasional damp qualities, and the slightly frustrating ‘happy ending’ where all the interesting characters are punished for being dodgy and fun and Fanny and Edmond crawl away to live in perpetual virtue. They both would have been much better off with the Crawfords.

Sadly, however, I don’t think Joan Aiken agrees with me as this entire book is basically a re-tread of the original, with I think even more moralizing. The Crawfords come back to be redeemed and then are briskly ushered off screen, Fanny and Edmond don’t even really appear, and the Fanny replacement is clearly designed to be a sparkier, more active, more palatable to modern tastes kind of Fanny, but actually makes all the same choices, even down to marrying the cousin.

I mean, it was readable enough, and perfectly pleasantly written, I’m just not sure I see the point in it, exactly. It’s probably easier to just re-read the original and spend some quality time with the inestimable and unreplaceable Jane, and maybe read some of Joan Aiken’s excellent ‘wolves’ series.

[Isabel Fontes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was truly captivated by Aiken's approach to retelling the original story from the perspective of the Bertram family.
Her reinterpretation shed new light on the characters of Mary and Henry Crawford, allowing them to be portrayed as individuals with depth and complexity, rather than one-dimensional figures.
Despite their imperfections, Aiken's portrayal enabled them to undergo a compelling development, making the story even more engaging and thought-provoking.

In the sequel, Sir Thomas has passed away, and his elder son is now the baronet at Mansfield Park. Attention is needed for the property in Antigua. Edmund and Fanny embark on a voyage, leaving the way clear for the reader to concentrate on Susan, Fanny's younger sister, who came to live at Mansfield at the end of the Austen novel.

I found the sequel to Mansfield Park to be quite delightful. Joan Aiken's writing style is captivating, and I truly appreciated her deep understanding and portrayal of Jane Austen's beloved characters. Her seamless continuation of the story while staying true to Austen's original work was truly impressive.

If you are a Janeite, you will absolutely adore it.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* In this sequel to Mansfield Park, Joan Aiken stayed true to the world and characters created by Jane Austen, while telling her own story.

Mansfield Revisited takes place 4 years after the events of Mansfield Park. The main character is Susan Price, who came to live at Mansfield Park at the end of Jane Austen's novel. The book opens with the death of Sir Thomas. This was a brilliant move by Aiken as it removes Edmund and Fanny and forces Tom to settle down and accept his new responsibilities.

Writing a sequel to Jane Austen is a daunting prospect and I think it was a smart move to send Edmund and Fanny to Antigua to wrap up business.

Mansfield Revisited is the first of the Austen sequels that Aiken wrote and I think it is a very interesting choice. I, personally, really enjoy Mansfield Park but I don't know anyone who would say that it is their favorite Austen. Maybe that's why she started with it or maybe it was her favorite. Either way, she wrote a compelling story. It was great fun to dive back into the world of the Bertram's!