I will be honest and say that, had I chosen Mansfield Park as the first of my Jane Austen novels, I almost certainly would not then have challenged myself to also read the other five. It is a much, much slower paced story than Persuasion and did often feel a bit of a slog! Once I had adapted to this, I did enjoy the book, but spending several pages fairly early on in the company of characters bemoaning the lack of a gate key as though it were actually a disaster nearly had me starting to jump pages. I wondered if Austen was paid by word count?

Austen's talents for observation and the recounting of minutiae do make for fantastic character portrayals. From the indolent Lady Bertram to her waspish sister Mrs Norris, the snobby Misses Bertram and flirtatious Henry Crawford, everyone came gliding off the page as completely real people that I was fascinated to watch, even though I don't think I could have stood to be around any of them in life. In fact the only character I found totally infuriating was Fanny herself. Her shyness and reclusive personality I can easily understand and empathise with as I am quite similar myself, however I didn't like her as the central pin of the story. Envisaging Mansfield and the other locations was easy due to Austen's detailed descriptions. I am lucky in that my vintage copy of the book also includes the play script for Lovers Vows so I gained a greater subtext understanding of this episode.

All in all, I didn't appreciate Mansfield Park as much as I had hoped too. The long build up made the last few chapters where finally everything happens seem very rushed and unfinished. This novel has real pacing issues, but I am glad to have read it purely for the superb characterisations.