A review by riften
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

4.0

Every Austen heroine must bear some secret injustice on a sliding scale from small indignity to life-ruining scandal. And they WILL bear it with quiet dignity. FANNY PRICE has to put up with the most deplorable villain of all the Austen works (I’m guessing; I haven’t read Northanger Abbey) who keeps bothering her no matter how hard she tries to imitate the furniture. And everyone thinks he’s the greatest chap around (except that one guy, who thinks he should be hanged just for being 5’8 and ugly) and even the MAN SHE LOVES is trying to set her up with this villain. There’s a lot to love here - lots to unpick too, especially the colonial details - and it had me laughing out loud on one page and viscerally cringing on the next.