Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.

Why do we read? What do we cherish in a book? What is the nature of a masterpiece? What do Alice Munro, Albert Camus, and the great Polish experimentalist Witold Gombrowicz have in common? In the tradition of Nabokov, Calvino, and Kundera, Douglas Glover’s new essay collection fuses his long experience as an author with his love of philosophy and his passion for form. Call it a new kind of criticism or an operator’s manual for readers and writers, The Erotics of Restraint extends Glover’s long and deeply personal conversation with great books and their authors. With the same dazzling mix of emotion and idea that characterizes his fiction, he dissects narrative and shows us how and why it works, why we love it, and how that makes us human. Erudite and obsessively detailed, inventive, confessional, and cheeky, these essays offer a brilliant clarity, a respite in an age of doubt. They raise the bar.

Jane Austen painted indelible portraits of Georgian life, and here are three of her infinitely appealing novels, all beautifully illustrated with period images: Sense and Sensibility, a richly textured masterpiece about two sisters with wildly differing temperaments; Emma, with its endearing but flawed protagonist; and the deliciously lighthearted Northanger Abbey.

From the editor of the popular Annotated Pride and Prejudice comes an annotated edition of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park that makes her story of an impoverished girl living with her wealthy relatives an even more satisfying read. Here is the complete text of Austen’s own favorite novel with more than 2,300 annotations on facing pages, including: ● Explanations of historical context ● Citations from Austen’s life, letters, and other writings ● Definitions and clarifications ● Literary comments and analysis ● Maps of places in the novel ● An introduction, bibliography, and detailed chronology of events ● More than 225 informative illustrations Filled with fascinating details about the characters’ clothes, houses, and carriages, as well as background information on such relevant issues as career paths in the British navy, contemporary attitudes toward slavery, and the legal and social consequences of adultery, David M. Shapard’s Annotated Mansfield Park brings Austen’s world into richer focus.

Two complete novels in one volume. Meet Fanny Price, who comes from an impoverished home, but is raised as one of the family at Mansfield Park, her rich uncle's estate, in a novel first published in 1814. Meet young Englishwoman Annie Elliot in the humorous "Persuasion," Jane Austen's last completed novel, first published in 1817. Two classics by Jane Austen, one of the greatest and most influential authors in English literature. This edition features a large selection of original 19th century illustrations.

When she is 10 years old, Fanny Price is sent from her poor and large family to Mansfield Park, where she is to be raised by her wealthy aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram. Though she grows up in the same home as her four older cousins, she is often treated as a poor and ignorant relation, similar to a servant, and is not afforded the same advances into society as her more privileged relatives. But there is one among her relations who treats her as an equal. Edmund is the second son and the kind-hearted soul of the family. It is not long before Fanny’s childhood appreciation of Edmund’s kindness is transformed into a romantic love more suited to the young woman she’s become. But the fashionably wealthy and attractive brother and sister, Henry and Mary Crawford, arrive at Mansfield and create turmoil for the entire Bertram family - Mary falls for Edward, and Henry falls for all of the female cousins, though he tries to convince Fanny (and himself) that his heart belongs only to her. Will any hearts be spared? Though often described as the least romantic of Austen’s six novels, Mansfield Park comes to life when Fanny’s true romantic and passionate nature is revealed. Indeed before Edmund’s eyes Fanny’s passion and beauty surpasses that of her new and sophisticated friend, Miss Crawford. And it appears that the overly moralistic Edmund has some untapped passion of his own. Can the pursuit of pleasure be enough to bring this romance to a new level? Sensuality Level: Sensual