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In Manslaughter Park, Tirzah Price reimagines the classic Jane Austen novel Mansfield Park as a queer romance and a murder mystery. This isn’t the first time Price has tapped into the world of Austen, but this is the author’s first queer Jane Austen retelling. Her series of YA murder mysteries honors the satire, wit, and romance of Austen’s original works while seamlessly weaving in stories of murder, intrigue, and humor. The punnily titled results, which include Pride and Premeditation and Sense & Second-Degree Murder, feel fresh, allowing readers to see these classics in a new light, or to discover them for the first time. With her latest novel, Price treats readers to a compelling new sapphic love story between Fanny Price and Mary Crawford.
Manslaughter Park follows aspiring artist turned amateur sleuth Fanny Price as she investigates the suspicious death of her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram. After Fanny finds evidence of foul play, she’s determined to discover who murdered Sir Thomas, even though her best friend Edmund urges her to stay out of it. Fanny’s hunt for the truth uncovers family secrets, shady business deals, and blackmail. And just when Fanny thinks her investigation couldn’t get any more complicated, Henry and Mary Crawford arrive at Mansfield Park with a business proposal of their own.
Below, Tirzah Price speaks to Them about being a queer author publishing a sapphic romance for the first time, which Jane Austen novel she’d love to make gayer, and why young adult LGBTQ+ books are so important.
Manslaughter Park is your third Jane Austen retelling, but this is the first one that’s a queer retelling. Can you talk a little bit about why you wanted to make Manslaughter Park a queer story?
I knew that I wanted to make at least one of these retellings queer, but I wasn’t sure which one until I was watching the 1999 movie retelling with Frances O’Connor. This was back when I was still writing Pride and Premeditation. There is one scene in [that] version where Fanny and Mary have off-the-charts chemistry and I sat up and thought, “Oh, this is something.” From that moment, I wanted Fanny to be at least bisexual, but I was honestly not sure if my publisher would go for it.
When talking with my editor about Manslaughter Park before I started drafting —the books sold as a three-book deal — she actually beat me to the punch by suggesting we queer up this book, and I was so happy to agree. I think that there’s a lot in the original that lends itself to a queer retelling. So many women I know realized they were queer because of intense, confusing friendships with other women —that old “do I want to be like her or do I want to kiss her?” conundrum —and I think the dynamics between Fanny and Mary are so fascinating. They don’t see eye-to-eye on many things, and yet there isn’t that cattiness of Caroline Bingley in her. Sometimes both Crawfords get cast as antagonists in Mansfield Park, but I don’t think Mary is an antagonist at all, and making Fanny and Mary overtly queer with feelings for each other was a fun way to explore the interesting dynamic from the original book.
You mentioned that a lot of readers don’t realize that this is a queer book. Do you think the murder mystery plot line is directing attention away from the queerness of this story? Or are people just not prepared for Jane Austen to be queer?
I think, to be honest, people don’t expect this book to be queer because although this is a murder mystery retelling of Austen, it’s still set in the Regency time period and the characters are governed by a lot of the same societal rules and expectations, so I think there’s just this assumption that of course she’ll be straight, too.
The original marketing copy also omitted that the book was queer, and that didn’t sit well with me, so I asked the team if they could tweak it to indicate that it was a queer retelling, and they were happy to do that, which I appreciate. It’s also not as overt as if I’d made Edmund’s character female. Of the three retellings, this is the one where I take the most liberties, and so perhaps readers just don’t expect it.
I’m happy to share that this book features a queer Fanny Price because even though we have many more queer YA books — and even queer Jane Austen retellings! — there is still a lack of queer representation in a lot of subgenres we all love to read. I mean, I can think of probably fewer than 10 sapphic historical romances. That’s not enough in my opinion! Readers who seek out queer historical romance should be able to find it without too many barriers set up, so I’ve tried to be really upfront about how excited I am to write and release a queer retelling of Austen.
You mentioned that we’re seeing a lot more LGBTQ+ retellings of classic novels. Reflecting on a lot of these classic retellings, I wonder if these books have always been gay and we’re just getting to highlight that more now. In other words, has the world of Jane Austen always been a little gay?
I think that there is a lot of queer subtext in Austen! Whether or not she meant it to be there, I can’t say for certain. But there have been many times I’ve read Austen and thought, “This is the most lesbian shit ever.” I also always raised my eyebrows at the closeness of Tom Bertram and Mr. Yates.
Any other Jane Austen books that you would love to queer up?
Oh, I am champing at the bit to queer up Persuasion. It has all the elements: Anne turns down Wentworth because she allows herself to think a union between them is a bad idea, they part for years, Wentworth comes back hotter and even more successful, and Anne has regrets. I could make Wentworth a very dashing lady. This retelling practically writes itself. I also love a second-chance romance.
In your first book, Lizzie and Darcy work together to solve a murder, and they make an appearance in this one to offer Fanny some sleuthing advice. And I know you have more books planned for Lizzie and Darcy in the near future. Is there anything you can tell us about those books? Is one of them maybe a gay Persuasion?
Sadly, one of the Lizzie and Darcy sequels is not a gay Persuasion, but they will continue to include cameos from other characters. It’s fun to write this series and treat Jane Austen’s world as though all the characters coexist in the same London. The next Lizzie and Darcy book will be a brand new mystery, and feature glimpses of Austen characters from two other books. I haven’t started writing the second Lizzie and Darcy sequel, but I am hoping we’ll get to check in on Fanny and see how she’s doing.
Manslaughter Park is your third novel, but as we discussed earlier, this is your first novel where you had an opportunity to really highlight a sapphic relationship. As a queer author, how does it feel getting to write Fanny and Mary’s story?
Thrilling, but also a little terrifying. Pride and Premeditation was my first book to be published, but I’d written a queer book right before that one that didn’t sell and so I always have felt a little weird about my first two books being straight romances when I myself am far from straight. It feels so lovely to be able to write a queer love story and see it published, knowing how much queer YA has meant to me personally. But I am also very wary of how it will be received, especially because the first two books in the series aren’t queer. I’m a public librarian, and so I deal with a lot of homophobia toward queer books in my day job and it’s just a scary time to be a queer author, period. I’m trying to prepare myself for the worst while hoping for the best.
It’s a scary time to be a queer author, and a scary time to be a public librarian! Manslaughter Park is a YA novel coming out at a time when LGBTQ+ books written for young adults are being scrutinized and pulled from shelves. As an author, librarian, and someone who is just genuinely passionate about YA literature, do you have suggestions for what we can do to help get more LGBTQ+ books into the hands of young adult readers?
My go-to advice for anyone at any time is to please get involved in your community. Show up to library board and school board meetings, even if there aren’t challenges on the agenda. If you can’t make those meetings, read news coverage of them and read the meeting minutes so you know what’s going on. When books are banned there’s always this effort to buy them or speak up on the internet, but that doesn’t un-ban books. It doesn’t get them in the hands of all the kids and teens who only have access to books at the same libraries that are restricting what can go on the shelves. In order to protect intellectual freedom, we all need to get involved at the policy level.
LGBTQ+ books save lives. That sounds really grandiose, I know, but look, I am a librarian in a tiny rural community [in Iowa.] I’m involved in our local chapter of PFLAG, and I know how much the queer youth are struggling in unfriendly states. Their lives are harder than I could even imagine, and when you’re facing that much pushback simply for being who you are, finding a book that reflects even a small part of your lived experience is a life raft. All kids and teens deserve that, and I think we as a society benefit from having a diverse collection so we can learn from each other and have empathy for each other.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
Manslaughter Park is out June 27 from HarperTeen.
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