In Jane Austen the Secret Radical Helena Kelly suggests that Mary is pregnant during the course of the novel. Is Mary a hypochondriac? She is the youngest child and like Anne probably didn't get much attention (even less from her mother as she was younger when she died). Have we been unjustly maligning Mary this whole time - could she have a chronic illness? Or is it about being an extrovert and really needing to feed off other people to feel "up"?

In Jane Austen The Secret Radical Helena Kelly posits that Anne and Captain Wentworth are not in love at the beginning of the book, but fall back in love during the course of the novel.