The first time I tried to read this, it was pure torture. I would only finish one paragraph before falling asleep, and had to drag myself through thte first two-thirds of the book. I couldn’t understand anything that they were saying, and if so, it was trivial.
But the last third of the book was so good! I was completely enraptured in suspense and I saw why it was such a great romance.

I re-read the whole book about a year later, and now I loved the whole thing, the beginning has subtle witticism and humour that I had not seen the first time I read it. If this is your first old english sort of book, I recommend doing what I did and dragging yourself through until you finish the whole thing. It is worth it.