Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen's playful send-up of gothic novels, follows a young woman whose imagination runs wild the moment she steps inside a real one.

Catherine Morland, an ordinary vicar's daughter with a taste for scary stories, gets her first real look at society when family friends take her to Bath. There she meets the witty Henry Tilney and befriends the flashy Isabella Thorpe, who cares more about fashion and flirtation than loyalty. Catherine spends her nights lost in gothic novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho, and when Henry's family invites her to their home, Northanger Abbey, she pictures locked rooms, hidden passages, and dark family secrets behind every door.

The real abbey turns out to be far less thrilling than the ones in her books, but Catherine's imagination doesn't slow down. She becomes convinced that Henry's stern father, General Tilney, is hiding a terrible secret about his late wife. Her suspicions lead to an embarrassing confrontation with Henry, a hard lesson in telling fantasy from reality. Then a harsher blow lands when the general, learning Catherine isn't as wealthy as he assumed, sends her home without warning or explanation. What Catherine does next, and what it costs General Tilney, brings the story to a close as satisfying as any novel she has ever read.

This is a coming-of-age story and a gentle mystery spoof at once, poking fun at gothic romance while still delivering real feeling and real family tension. It's perfect for fans of Jane Austen's wit, of Regency-era manners and misunderstandings, or anyone who enjoys a heroine who reads a little too much into everything around her.

Catherine's runaway imagination and Bath's crowded ballrooms cool into something calmer here, an easy, soft-spoken pace meant to walk you gently down.