This is my last full-length Gaskell to read, and I think it was a good "finale" so to speak (although I still have quite a few novellas and short stories still to read). 

This one took a loooonnnnnggggg time to really get going. I would say probably the first 60% of the book is setting up the main plot points of the story, and the last 40% is where most of the action happens. That 60% is necessary, I think, to get you really invested in the characters, where they're going, what they're feeling, and why they are responding they way they are. But it is a bit of a slog! 

Honestly, for the first 60% of the story, I was thinking this was a 3 or 4 star book, but the final 40% redeemed it for me. The three primary characters (two, really, but the third one is also quite important) are quite flawed and not very likable. I was frustrated with them quite a bit, but Gaskell worked her magic and I ended up really invested in their story  by the midway point. 

Gaskell excels at creating real emotional depth in her stories. Her books, with the exception of Cranford, are not light reads - you'll want to dig into these stories and really sit with them. This one definitely has a darker edge to it, especially with the primary plot element of the naval conscription that was going on during the Napoleonic wars. Side note - this was historical fiction at the time it was written, which I thought was fun. 

Gaskell also excels, like Austen but in a different way, at crafting flawed and realistic characters that have a lot of depth and complexity. These are not cookie cutter characters, neither are they one-dimensional.