FIRST FRIDAY BOOK CLUB | Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park, the third novel by English author Jane Austen, was started in 1811 and first published in 1814, with the novel not receiving any public reviews until 1821. Mansfield Park, the story of Fanny Price, is seen as Jane Austen’s most complex novel. Starting when her overburdened family sends her away from the poverty of her parents’ home to be brought up with her wealthy cousins at Mansfield Park, this is the story of how Fanny Price faces numerous difficulties highlighted through the behaviour of the gentrified Bertrams, the London-bred Crawfords and the unrefined Prices.  Surrounding their behaviour, Jane Austen subtly projects aspects of an emerging Regency society, such as consumerism, attitudes to slavery, colonial problems in the sugar industry, and evangelical 19^th century Anglicanism, to give a view of a wider world. It is a novel which challenges the reader. 

Join The Friends for an enjoyable morning of lively discussion around the varied opinions provided by the First Friday Book Club followers.