Maria Returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park by Roslyn Russell

I’ve had Maria Returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park by Australian author Roslyn Russell on my bookshelf for ages, but wanted to re-read Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park before reading the variation novel.

Maria Returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park began ten years after Mansfield Park finished and told the story of Maria Rushworth, who was disgraced in Mansfield Park after leaving her husband for a short-lived affair with Henry Crawford.

Since then, Maria had lived an uncomfortable and lonely life in exile with her Aunt Norris in a place where no one knew of her ruined reputation.

Early in Maria Returns, Aunt Norris died unexpectedly and left Maria her estate, which was big enough for Maria to be considered well-off, although it wasn’t enough for Maria to re-enter society.

When Maria’s friend Ellen asked Maria if she would care to accompany her and her husband to Barbados to see to his business, Maria agreed. When Maria realised that Ellen and her husband were abolitionists, she chose not to tell them that her father, Sir Thomas Bertram, owned slaves and plantations on nearby Antigua and was a rich man as a result.

In Barbados, Maria met a freed slave whose connection with the Bertram family would change the course of her family’s future.

I liked Maria this time around. Ten years older and wiser, she was a calmer, kinder character. I liked the story also, although it went somewhere Jane Austen didn’t. The author’s voice didn’t seem like Austen’s to me, either, although Maria Returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park was an easy, straight-forward read.

Other than the immediate Bertram family there wasn’t much content in this story about other characters from Mansfield Park, so if anyone wants to know what happened to Henry or Mary Crawford they should write their own follow-up novel.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen is the final book in my Classics Club challenge to read and review fifty classics over a five-year period.

Prior to this reading, I would have said Mansfield Park was my least favourite Austen novel and Fanny Price my least favourite heroine. Although it must be at least thirty years since I last read this novel, I remembered the story as being slightly boring and Fanny as a dull, goody-goody who ended up marrying her equally dull cousin Edmund (ick).

I was wrong. The story wasn’t at all boring and Fanny wasn’t dull, nor was she a prig as I’ve since realised that her morals, although higher than of those around her, were also completely sincere. I’m also old enough now to realise that emulating Fanny’s behaviour would probably have served me better at that age than having behaved like Lydia Bennet as a teenager.

However, this review isn’t about me, it’s about Fanny Price.

Fanny was removed from her poor family at a young age to be brought up by her aunt and uncle with her richer cousins at their home, Mansfield Park. The Bertram’s circle of friends included the disruptive but exciting Henry Crawford and his sister Mary. Fanny was always the poor relation but when Henry decided to make Fanny fall in love with him for his own amusement, he unexpectedly fell in love with her instead.

Henry had previously captivated the hearts of Fanny’s female cousins Maria and Julia, but far from being flattered by his attentions, Fanny did not like or esteem him or his sister as their morals were not up to her own standards. Her cousins and uncle, however, did not see through the Crawfords as Fanny did, and pressured her to marry Henry. Fanny’s feelings were further complicated by her favourite cousin, Edmund, being in love with Mary Crawford.

Eventually the Crawford’s loose morals were exposed, as were Maria’s, although the benefit was that Fanny was freed from Henry’s attentions. Edmund’s heart was broken though, so he crawled home to Mansfield Park to lick his wounds, but eventually turned to Fanny.

Rebound, anyone?

I’m still not convinced that Fanny’s eventual marriage to Edmund was reward enough for her goodness though, and not just because she and Edmund were cousins who had been brought up almost as brother and sister.

Instead, I wish Jane Austen had introduced a worthy friend of Edmund’s into their group, who would have fallen in love with Fanny and she with him. Edmund eventually ‘getting over’ Mary Crawford and turning to Fanny seemed to me as if Fanny was very much of a second choice for him. She deserved better. I felt sorry for Edmund too, as he had earlier been very much in love with Mary.

When I think about the couples, would-be or otherwise, I think they all got it wrong except for Julia Bertram and Mr Yates, who after twenty years of married life would probably still be happy enough with each other.

I blame Maria Bertram for everything.

If Maria had played hard to get instead of throwing herself at Henry Crawford she would have secured him from the beginning, since he was the type of person to want what he couldn’t have. This would have saved Fanny from Henry’s unwelcome attentions and would also have prevented poor Mr Rushworth being caused an enormous amount of pain and embarrassment. Edmund would also have been free to love Mary Crawford and ‘educate’ her to be more like Fanny. You’re welcome, Jane Austen.

There were funny moments throughout this story, not laugh out loud, but satirical events where characters exposed themselves as selfish, behaving exactly as they complained about others behaving to them, and the like. Fanny’s aunt, Mrs Norris was actually cruel to Fanny, although her behaviour was often portrayed comedically.

What do you think would have happened to Fanny had she never been brought to Mansfield Park as a young girl? Would she have survived her childhood? Despite Fanny’s relatively physically easy life and being well feed, clean and housed (despite the lack of a fire in her own sitting room) at Mansfield Park, she always seemed to be tired and worn out. I wonder….

The references to slavery were so slight they almost passed me by. Sir Thomas, Fanny’s uncle, travelled to Antigua to see about his businesses there, and on his return, Fanny asked him about the slave trade, stopping her questioning only because it seemed as if her cousins resented her and were bored by her conversation with their father. Although Fanny’s morals were unfailingly good, there was no suggestion that she had an opinion about slavery. I’ve got a copy of Maria Returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park by Roslyn Russell in my bookcase and am looking forward to seeing what the author does with this topic.

When presented with a moral dilemma, a good question to ask would be, what would Fanny Price do?

Mansfield Park was book fifty of my Classics Club challenge to read 50 classics before my challenge end date of August 26, 2023. I’ve enjoyed the challenge enormously and am creating a second list as am keen to go again.