It's probably sacrilege for a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America to admit that s/he doesn't like one of Austen's works.
And yet, here I am.
This is the story of Fanny Price, who is one of several children. Her aunt, a Mrs. Norris, decides that it will be to her advantage to bring Fanny from Portsmouth to Mansfield Park -- because, frankly, auntie wants someone to boss around. So, 10-year-old Fanny is brought up to meet her cousins in the Bertram family (Lady Bertram is another aunt) and generally be the dogsbody.
Over time, Fanny falls in love with her cousin Edmund, who cannot see her for dust because he's in love with Mary Crawford ... whose creepy brother Henry decides to make Fanny fall in love with him.
Really, there are a great many two-dimensional characters here. Fanny is long-suffering and always kind -- which means that she is sure to get the reward her heart desires at the end of the book. Henry is always a cad, so we know he's going to do something really vile by the standards of Austen's time.
I'm working my way through Austen's ouevre, so now I can say I've finished this one. I simply didn't love it.
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