MANSFIELD PARK

Listeners with the fortitude to make it through twelve cassettes of nineteenth-century British social mores will be rewarded with Austen’s brilliant commentary on the society of her day and by Johanna Ward’s solid reading. Her narrative style is unvoiced and cultured, but makes for difficulty in character differentiation, especially for listeners unaccustomed to this style of both voice and literature. Nevertheless, this is a lively and interesting choice for admirers of Jane Austen, but use cautiously with younger audiences unfamiliar with her work. S.G. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 94]