8 h 42 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 214 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 214 pagesAbout this book
What if the darkest secrets in an old abbey exist only in the mind of its most eager guest?
Catherine Morland loves frightening novels and longs for adventure. When Mrs Allen takes her to fashionable Bath, she finds dances, new friends, and the teasing charm of Henry Tilney. But Catherine is quick to trust. Behind warm welcomes and lively conversation, money, rank, and marriage shape what people want from her.
An invitation to Northanger Abbey seems to promise the mysteries Catherine knows from books. An old chest and a black cabinet give her imagination plenty to work with. In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen blends Gothic parody with romance, asking whether an honest young woman can learn to see clearly before her fantasies threaten real affection.
What you’ll discover
- A wonderfully unlikely heroine Follow Catherine as her hunger for adventure collides with the awkward business of growing up.
- Romance with a teasing smile Meet Henry Tilney, whose wit draws Catherine into conversations that challenge and delight her.
- Gothic thrills turned sideways Enter an ancient abbey where Catherine expects sinister secrets around every corner.
- Friendship beneath the surface Watch quick affection and steady kindness compete as Catherine learns whom she can trust.
- A narrator in your confidence Enjoy a voice that speaks directly to you, laughing at stories while defending their pleasures.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy light, witty comedy, a young heroine who grows up, and playful talk about books themselves. It is a good first step into Austen.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A plain girl is raised for adventure
- Bath opens the door to society
- Friends are not always what they claim
- Henry Tilney charms with wit and teasing
- A broken promise and a muddle of plans
- An invitation to the abbey of her dreams
- Imagination meets a very ordinary house
- The novel defends itself and its readers
- How the narrator plays with the reader
Who’s who
- Catherine MorlandA seventeen year old clergyman's daughter who loves Gothic novels, trusts everyone and wants adventure, friendship and love.
- Henry TilneyA witty young clergyman who enjoys teasing Catherine, and who guides her toward good sense.
- Eleanor TilneyHenry's gentle, modest sister, who becomes Catherine's steady friend and wants peace in her father's house.
- General TilneyThe proud, commanding father of the Tilneys, who is very eager to impress and who cares about wealth and rank.
- Isabella ThorpeA lively, pretty girl who offers Catherine quick friendship, shares her love of novels, and wants a good match.
- John ThorpeIsabella's loud, boastful brother, who brags about his horses and expects Catherine's attention.
- James MorlandCatherine's kind and honest brother, a student at Oxford, who falls in love with Isabella.
- Mrs AllenA friendly neighbor who takes Catherine to Bath, and who cares mostly about clothes and comfort.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 42 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 214 pages: USD 9.95 when you start free, USD 15.95 on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 214 pages: USD 16.95 when you start free, USD 22.95 on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen · 1817
Catherine Morland expects Gothic horrors, but in Bath and an old abbey, she must learn whom to trust.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Northanger Abbey is a short comic novel by Jane Austen. She wrote it around the end of the 1790s, sold it to a publisher in 1803, and saw it sit unprinted.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A plain girl is raised for adventure
The novel opens by announcing that Catherine Morland was never born to be a heroine. She grows up in the village of Fullerton, one of ten children of a kind and sensible clergyman and his busy wife. As a child she prefers cricket, baseball and rolling down the green slope behind the house to dolls and lessons. She is not a prodigy at music, drawing or anything else.
The narrator treats all this with mock sorrow. Catherine has no tragic secret, no cruel guardian, and no great beauty. Her father is not wicked and her mother has not died in childbirth, which is what a novel of the day would require. The joke is that real life is more ordinary than books, and Austen tells it with a straight face.
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What is Northanger Abbey about?
It tells of Catherine Morland, a young woman who loves Gothic novels and is taken to Bath, then to a great country house. Her imagination clashes with real people, and she learns to judge character and truth.
Is Northanger Abbey a parody?
Yes, in part. Austen plays with the Gothic novels popular in her youth, such as The Mysteries of Udolpho. She borrows their haunted houses and villains, then shows how real life is quite different.
When was Northanger Abbey written and published?
Austen wrote it near the end of the 1790s and sold it in 1803, but it stayed unprinted. It was published after her death in 1817, together with Persuasion.
The author
Jane Austen
1775–1817 · English novelist
Jane Austen was an English novelist born in Steventon, Hampshire, in 1775. She lived in Bath, Southampton and Chawton, and died in Winchester in 1817. Her novels included Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815). Northanger Abbey and Persuasion appeared after her death.
More by Jane Austen
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