Even the best authors in the world sometimes put out something that… well, isn’t up to their usual standards. For Jane Austen, that book was “Mansfield Park” — her prose is typically excellent, and she weaves a memorable story about a poor young lady in the middle of a wealthy, dysfunctional family. But put bluntly, Fanny Price lacks the depth and complexity of Austen’s other heroines.

As a young girl, Fanny Price was sent from her poor family to live with her wealth relatives, the Bertrams, and was raised along with her four cousins Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia. Despite being regarded only little better than a servant (especially by the fawning, cheap Mrs. Norris), Fanny is pretty happy — especially since Edmund is kind and supportive of her at all times. But then the charming, fashionable Crawford siblings arrive in the neighborhood, sparking off some love triangles (particularly between Maria and Henry Crawford, even though she’s already engaged).

And the whole thing becomes even more confused when Henry becomes intrigued by Fanny’s refusal to be charmed by him as the others are. But when she rejects his proposal, she ends up banished from her beloved Mansfield Park… right before a devastating scandal and a perilous illness strikes the Bertram family. Does Fanny still have a chance at love and the family she’s always been with?

The biggest problem with “Mansfield Park” is Fanny Price — even Austen’s own mother didn’t like her. She’s a very flat, virtuously dull heroine for this story; unlike Austen’s other heroines she doesn’t have much personality growth or a personal flaw to overcome. And despite being the protagonist, Fanny seems more like a spectator on the outskirts of the plot until the second half (when she has a small but pivotal part to play in the story).

Fortunately she’s the only real flaw in this book. Austen’s stately, vivid prose is full of deliciously witty moments (Aunt Norris “consoled herself for the loss of her husband by considering that she could do very well without him”), some tastefully-handled scandal, and a delicate house-of-romantic-cards that comes crashing down to ruin people’s lives (and improve others). And she inserts some pointed commentary on people who care more about society’s opinions than on morality.

And the other characters in the book are pretty fascinating as well — especially since Edmund, despite being a virtuous clergyman-in-training, is an intelligent and strong-willed man. The Bertrams are a rather dysfunctional family with a stern patriarch, a fluttery ethereal mother, a playboy heir and a couple of spoiled girls — Maria in particular develops a crush on Henry, but doesn’t bother to break off her engagement until it’s too late. And the Crawfords are all flash and sparkle: a pair of charming, shallow people who are essentially hollow.

“Mansfield Park” suffers from a rather insipid heroine, but the rest of the book is vintage Austen — lies, romance, scandal and a dance of manners and society.