Happy Friday, readers! I am so happy to welcome back author Lona Manning to Austenesque Reviews today! Lona was here last year to celebrate her first release – a Mansfield Park variation titled A Contrary Wind! Which I loved (see here)! And now, today, a sequel to that variation is being released! (Woot woot!) Lona is here today to share an excerpt from her new release, A Marriage of Attachment!
This excerpt from A Marriage of Attachment features a flashback to a scene from 
Mansfield Park, as Edmund falls in love with Mary Crawford while walking through the grounds at Sotherton.
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Edmund Bertram is the clergyman at Thornton Lacey, a village near Mansfield, in his parsonage-house.
Edmund dipped his quill in his ink, and paused, looking up from his blank sheet of paper to gaze out of the window. He recalled when Mary’s brother Henry suggested they build a garden “at what is now the back of the house; which will be giving it the best aspect in the world, sloping to the south-east. The ground seems precisely formed for it.” Henry used to pique himself on his abilities as a landscape designer, and the Crawfords and Bertrams once travelled together to the country home of his sister’s fiancé Mr. Rushworth, so Henry could advise on improvements to his grounds. The visit to the gardens of Sotherton turned out to be anything but innocent for all of the young people hovering on the brink of love or desire. Henry had flirted with Julia all the way there, and, once arrived, had transferred his attentions to Maria. And Mary had discovered that Edmund intended to be a clergyman. Her reaction to this news, ought to have taught Edmund to guard his heart from her. Instead, she had bewitched him. Continue reading »
