Although it wasn’t published until after she died, Northanger Abbey was the first novel Austen wrote and finished. It is certainly not on the same level as her masterpieces, Pride and Prejudice and Emma, but it is not without its own merit. For one, Austen’s prose and elegant writing are always a draw, and that is on full display in her first novel. Second, while the book is lighter in terms of story and themes, it is a joy to read. The heroine, Catherine, is unlike Austen’s other protagonists. She is much more simple, naive, and rather artless in the way she reacts to the world around her. This is due to an overactive imagination. Catherine is a voracious reader and has come to see the world through the lens of the gothic novels she consumes. This leads to some embarrassing moments for Catherine as she lets her imagination run wild with explanations as if she were living in one of her novels.
If you want a light read but to still enjoy the elegant words of a great writer, I recommend this book. And if you’re like me and you like to explore the early works of authors you adore to see their genius budding before it’s in full bloom, this is exactly that.
Review by Andrew
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
A wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austen’s "Gothic parody.” Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.
The story’s unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry’s mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.
Executed with high-spirited gusto, Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen’s novels, yet at its core this delightful novel is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage.