Lynn Shepherd

Si hay un personaje de Jane Austen que despierta rechazo, esa es Fanny Price, la moralista, insípida y tímida protagonista de Mansfield Park. Por eso Lynn Shepherd no ha podido resistir la tentación de transformarla en un personaje radicalmente opuesto. Fanny es aquí una rica y malcriada heredera, y Mary Crawford se ha convertido en un ser bondadoso que sufre todo tipo de humillaciones a manos de su vengativa vecina. Cuando Fanny es asesinada en los jardines de Mansfield Park, Mary asume el protagonismo, aliándose con el investigador Maddox para resolver el crimen.… (mais)

This is the third of the author's literary pastiches I have read, this one being based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. A German scientist Baron Von Reisenberg is conducted mysterious experiments in his castle in Austria and young women are disappearing there and in London. The final explanation turns out to be more scientific than vampiric, with some interesting twists and turns in the last couple of chapters. I thought this was a great read, well written and with a good sense of gothic atmosphere, and is my favourite of the three of her novels I have read. I noticed with slight annoyance half way through that this is, however, the fourth in the Charles Maddox series, not the third, so I will need to go back and re-read this and hope that doesn't make too much of a difference to the flow of the series.… (mais)

Lynn Shepherd does a nice job of turning Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park into a light mystery.

I honestly did not think Shepherd needed to make Fanny Price into an arrogant bitch to justify her murder, and think that the original Fanny Price whom Austen wrote was such an insipid character I wanted to murder her myself.

Shepherd stays true to the Austen style of writing and the overall Regency feel. And of course the main character, Mary Crawford (in this case) winds up living happily ever after as do all of Austen’s heroines.

Considering Mansfield Park was one of my least favorite Austen books, I think Shepherd does a commendable job in the retelling of it and makes it a little more fun having Fanny finally get her comeuppance.
… (mais)