Northanger Abbey
When seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland arrives in Bath with her head spinning from gothic novels, she expects to find mystery, danger, and brooding heroes lurking in every shadowed corner. Instead, she discovers something far more treacherous: the labyrinth of human nature itself, where friends may deceive and enemies may charm, and where her own imagination proves both her greatest asset and most dangerous flaw. As Catherine navigates the glittering social world of Regency England, she must learn to distinguish between the thrilling fantasies she craves and the quieter, more complex truths of real affection and genuine character. Can a young woman raised on tales of midnight terrors find happiness in a world where the most profound revelations happen not in crumbling castles, but in drawing rooms and ballrooms? Austen’s most playful novel asks whether we must abandon our dreams entirely to embrace reality, or if wisdom lies in learning which dreams are worth keeping.
- Originally Published: 1817
- Publisher: Collins Classics, 2010
- Genre: Gothic Satire
- Pages: 230
- BookType: Hardcopy (Paperback)
- ISBN: 9780007368600
- Access: Members
Description
Northanger Abbey! These were thrilling words, and wound up Catherine’s feelings to the highest point of ecstasy.
While holidaying in Bath, young Catherine Moreland meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor who invite her to their family estate, Northanger Abbey. An avid reader of Gothic romance novels, naive Catherine soon lets her imagination run wild, fuelled by her friendship with the vivacious Isabella Thorpe. It is only when the realities of life set in around her that Catherine’s fantastical world is shattered.
Considered her most entertaining and satirical work, Austen expertly parodies the Gothic romance stories of her time and reveals much about her unsentimental view of love and marriage in the eighteenth century.
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