When Lady Bertram gets a letter from her sister begging her to take her eldest daughter Fanny off her hands, as she is about to give birth for the umpteenth time and lives in absolute squalor, Lady Bertram decides to accede to her sister’s request and prepares to welcome nine year Fanny to her grand country estate, Mansfield Park.
Lady Bertram has two daughters, Julia and Maria, and two sons, Tom and Edmund. Whilst her daughters are frivolous and solely concerned with trivia, and her eldest son, Tom, is given to hedonism, Edmund is a serious and studious young man who is giving serious thought to his future and to his purpose in life.
When his parents announce that Fanny is to come and live with them at Mansfield Park, Edmund goes out of his way in order to welcome the young and frightened child, who is missing her home and her family. Fanny is the kindest, sweetest and most gentle child, whose good nature is often abused by her flighty cousins, who take her for granted, and by her two aunts, Lady Bertram and her sister, Mrs. Norris, who never misses an opportunity to remind Fanny that she’s nothing better than a poor relation who should be on her hands and knees thanking the Bertrams for allowing her to make something of herself.
Edmund always has a kind word for his cousin, and with the passing of years, he delights in seeing the shy little girl blossom into womanhood. However, Edmund’s perfectly ordered life is about to be shaken up by the arrival of Mary and Henry Crawford to Mansfield Park.
Mary is worldly-wise, confident, sophisticated, and the most beautiful woman Edmund has ever seen. But is she the right woman for him? Or has his one true love been right under his nose for years?
In Edmund Bertram’s Diary, Amanda Grange perfectly captures Jane Austen’s sparkle, veracity and vivaciousness, and allows her readers to fall in love with their favourite characters all over again! Wonderfully written and brilliantly told, Edmund Bertram’s Diary cements Amanda Grange’s position as one of historical romance’s top notch authors!