Mansfield Park (1814)

Mansfield Park is the study of three families--the Bertrams, the Crawfords, and the Prices. The story's heroine, Fanny Price, is at its center. She is adopted into the family of her rich uncle Thomas Bertram, and is condescendingly treated as a poor relation by "Aunt Norris." Of her cousins, only Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities, and she falls in love with him. Unfortunately, however, he is drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford. Fanny's quiet passivity, steadfast loyalty, and natural goodness are matched against the wit and brilliance of her lovely rival. Jane Austen skillfully uses her characters' emotional relationships to explore the social and moral values by which they attempt to order their lives.