A
CONTRARY
WIND
A variation on Mansfield Park
Book One of
the Mansfield Trilogy
By Lona Manning
© 2017 Lona Manning
www.lonamanning.ca
Cover design by Dissect Designs
www.dissectdesigns.com
Also by Lona Manning
The Mansfield Trilogy
A Contrary Wind
A Marriage of Attachment
A Different Kind of Woman
Quill Ink Press Anthologies
Edited by Christina Angel Boyd
“The Address of a Frenchwoman”
a short story about Mansfield Park’s Tom Bertram in the anthology
Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen's Rakes and Gentlemen Rogues
“The Art of Pleasing”
a short story about Persuasion’s Penelope Clay in the anthology
Rational Creatures
“By a Lady”
a short story about Pride & Prejudice’s Anne DeBourgh
in the anthology Yuletide
(Kindle and paperback proceeds to benefit Chawton Great House)
Quill Ink anthologies also available in audiobook
Praise for A Contrary Wind
Jane Austen Centre, Bath: …Excellent... it’s a novel which certainly deserves a place on the bookshelves of a Jane Austen fan.
Austenesque Reviews: Brava to Lona Manning for her thoughtful twists and skillful execution in this variation. This story was in no way predictable and it kept me guessing almost until the end!
JustJane1813 blog: Lona Manning has a very engaging writing style, while her writing also captures the essence of Austen’s style and the time period in which she wrote her stories. She artfully wove text from canon into her own prose… Her creative storylines were bold enough to make this story a real page-turner.
First Impressions podcast: Her writing is not Austen, of course, but it is so good that she manages to blend it seamlessly with actual passages from Mansfield Park. Her grasp of the vernacular of the Regency era is incredibly well-researched and accurate.
Lost Opinions.com: This is an excellent read. Rich storylines, authentic characters (old and new), and writing I found hard to discern from the original (truly that good).
BlueInk Reviews starred review: A Contrary Wind is an impressive feat. Manning… emulates Austen’s writing style so well… The author creates engrossing tension through the escalating misdeeds of the Crawfords, whose just punishments will meet with modern approval. Many try to emulate Austen; not all succeed. Here, Manning triumphs. She has retained Austen’s spirit, while providing a stronger Fanny who will surely win today’s readers.
“I shall think her a very obstinate, ungrateful, girl…..
considering who and what she is.”
Aunt Norris
“[I]f Mansfield Park had had the government of the winds just for a week or two, about the equinox, there would have been a difference. Not that we would have endangered his safety by any tremendous weather — but only by a steady contrary wind….”
Henry Crawford
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the first part of Mansfield Park
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Foreword or Afterword
Acknowledgements and References
Preview of A Marriage of Attachment
Synopsis of the first part of Mansfield Park
A Contrary Wind breaks off from Jane Austen’s original text in Chapter Fifteen, at the point when the young people are casting the parts in the play Lovers’ Vows. A very brief synopsis to that point is provided below for anyone who hasn’t read Mansfield Park. A Contrary Wind can be read without having read Mansfield Park, but I of course recommend that you read Austen’s subtle and beautifully written novel. This variation references scenes and dialogue in the original novel, so knowledge of the original will enhance the enjoyment of this variation.
Sir Thomas Bertram is a wealthy baronet with two beautiful daughters and two handsome sons. His estate, Mansfield Park, is in Northamptonshire, north of London. His wife was one of three sisters—she made a brilliant marriage when she snagged the baronet; her older sister, Mrs. Norris, married a clergyman. The third sister, Mrs. Price, married beneath her; she wed a lieutenant of marines and lives in squalor in Portsmouth with her husband, now disabled for active duty, and a large brood of children.
Mrs. Norris proposes to Sir Thomas that he take in one of the poor Price children to help that struggling family (this is so she may have the credit of being benevolent without any of the expense); he agrees, and awkward, timid little Fanny Price, aged ten, comes to live in the great mansion. She is overawed by everything and everyone, and only her cousin Edmund, the younger of the two Bertram boys, pays any attention to her or shows her kindness.
Lady Bertram is remarkable for her indolence and inactivity, so by default, the management of her household and the raising of her children has been taken up by Mrs. Norris, childless and widowed, who is a judgmental, self-important, miserly busybody. Fanny is particularly bullied by Aunt Norris. Fanny is shy, humble, and passive, but also very morally upright. Thanks to Edmund, she learns to love poetry and reading, and becomes an enthusiast for the sublimity of Nature. She grows up to be totally devoted to him and secretly loves him. (This was at a time when first cousins could marry each other).
Sir Thomas must leave Mansfield Park to attend to his “plantations” in Antigua (that is, he is a slave-owner with sugar plantations, a very considerable source of wealth for England at this time) and he is away for almost two years. During his absence, his oldest daughter, Maria, becomes engaged to the wealthy but dim-witted Mr. Rushworth, who owns a large estate known as Sotherton. Then two new characters appear—pretty, witty, and charming Mary Crawford, and her flirtatious brother Henry. They are the half-brother and half-sister of Mrs. Grant, wife to the local clergyman.
At first, Mary Crawford thinks that Tom Bertram,
