Full to the brim with ready wit and arch social commentary, this amusing and intelligent book is as relevant today as it was when published nearly 200 years ago. If you haven't previously read any of Austen’s works, this is the perfect place to start, it’s one of her lesser known but more stimulating and provocative novels. Quite literally a book of two halves, we have a story of a young woman learning the difference between reality and fantasy and then a consummate commentary from the author on the literary world at the time.
Austen introduces an almost anti-heroine, a kind, caring but not particularly captivating Catherine, then surrounds her with four fascinatingly different characters who range from compassionate, intelligent and gracious to self obsessed, mercenary and petulant. As well as the engaging story, you also discover an author who appears to be somewhat on the warpath.
She actually talks to you from the page, her views are so clear, you could be having a face-to-face discussion with her. If you already know Northanger Abbey, reacquaint yourself with this fascinating novel. This actual edition is charming, a perfect size for the hand bag and one to treasure. It also has an interesting Introduction by Val McDermid who has just recently, with approval from the Austen Society, published a terrifically good reimagining in a contemporary setting of Northanger Abbey.
Northanger Abbey is the story of naïve but sweetly appealing Catherine Morland, a willing victim of the 19th-century craze for Gothic literature who is determined to see herself as the heroine of a dark and thrilling romance.
| Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
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Northanger Abbey is the story of naïve but sweetly appealing Catherine Morland, a willing victim of the 19th-century craze for Gothic literature who is determined to see herself as the heroine of a dark and thrilling romance.With a new introduction by Adelle Waldman.Northanger Abbey is both a perfectly aimed literary parody and a withering satire of the commercial aspects of marriage among the English gentry at the turn of the nineteenth century.When Catherine is invited to Northanger Abbey, the grand though forbidding ancestral seat of her suitor, Henry Tilney, she finds herself embroiled in a real drama of misapprehension, mistreatment, and mortification, until common sense and humor-and a crucial clarification of Catherine's financial status-puts all to right. Written in 1798 but not published until after Austen's death in 1817, Northanger Abbey is characteristically clearheaded and strong, and infinitely subtle in its comedy.
Northanger Abbey features in the following genres: Audiobooks of the Month, eBooks of the Month, Recommendations, Classic fiction: general and literary, Family Drama, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance / Relationship Stories, Fiction
Hardback, Paperback, Audiobook, Ebook. Not Available.
Northanger Abbey was written by Jane Austen and published by Vintage Books an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Northanger Abbey has 241 pages
Yes it is part of Vintage Classics series
