Fanny Price, poor relation raised at Mansfield Park by her wealthy aunt and uncle, endures condescension, falls quietly in love with her cousin Edmund, and watches the household nearly destroyed by scandal. Austen's most controversial novel: Fanny is either a moral center or a prig, depending on who is reading. The satire is gentler than in Pride and Prejudice, the moral stakes higher. Austen wrote this during the Napoleonic Wars, and some readers see colonial anxiety beneath the surface. The novel demands patience and rewards it. Fanny's stillness is her strength.