With imagination and authenticity Joan Aiken captures the customs and language of Austen's England in this one of a kind sequel to Jane Austen's classic novel, Mansfield Park , revealing a subversive and unique heroine. Harriet Ward, know as Hatty to her sisters, is treated with utter contempt by most of her family. Lacking the beauty that her older sisters inherited she is left without a dowry to care for their ill mother once her sisters are married off. Sent to Portsmouth to live with her rumbustious uncle and cousins, Hatty turns her creative flair to poetry and believes she must become a governess. That is until handsome Lord Camber passes through town . Jane Austen's Mansfield Park famously narrates the story of poor little Fanny Price sent to live with her mother's grander sisters - the Ward family. Written almost two centuries later, Joan Aiken's powerful sequel reverses the story and introduces us to The Youngest Miss Ward , Hatty, sent to fend for herself with the poor relations. 'Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon.

She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come.' Philip Pullman.