Northanger Abbey - by Val McDermid (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The internationally bestselling crime writer "offers a canny new twist on Jane Austen's early novel . . . a reimagined delight for Austen fans" (Booklist).

A homeschooled minister's daughter in the quaint, sheltered Piddle Valley in Dorset, Cat Morland loses herself in novels and is sure there is a glamorous adventure awaiting her beyond the valley's narrow horizon. So, imagine her delight when the Allens, neighbors and friends of her parents, invite her to attend the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh as their guest. With a sunny personality, tickets every night, and a few key wardrobe additions courtesy of Susie Allen, Cat quickly begins to take Edinburgh by storm and is taken into the bosom of the Thorpe family, particularly by eldest daughter Bella. And then there's the handsome Henry Tilney, an up-and-coming lawyer whose family home is the beautiful and forbidding Northanger Abbey. Cat is entranced by Henry and his charming sister, Eleanor, but she can't help wondering if everything about them is as perfect as it seems. Or has she just been reading too many novels? A delectable, note-perfect modern update of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey tells a timeless story of innocence amid cynicism, the exquisite angst of young love, and the value of friendship.

"McDermid's success lies in her ability to allow her version of Northanger Abbey to dovetail tidily and enjoyably with Austen's original while infusing it with her own humor, wit, and style."-The Boston Globe

"Rife with conflicts of love, gossip, misunderstandings, and updates on social media, it is an accessible and enjoyable read, especially rewarding for young readers as a gateway into appreciating the classics."--Publishers Weekly

Review Quotes

Praise for Northanger Abbey:

"The unmitigated pleasure here is the obvious relish with which McDermid relocates Austen's Regency England tale of romantic intrigue in Bath's high-society circuit and imaginatively-spun Gothic intrigue at a rural abbey to 21st-century Britain. . . . McDermid's success lies in her ability to allow her version of Northanger Abbey to dovetail tidily and enjoyably with Austen's original while infusing it with her own humor, wit, and style. . . . Long before Cat is off to the Tilneys' abbey, long before our modern-day crime author draws a final, canny ace from her tartan sleeve, you'll have succumbed to the delights of Northanger àagrave; la McDermid."-Daneet Steffens, The Boston Globe

"Gold Dagger Award-winning British crime writer McDermid offers a canny new twist on Jane Austen's early novel. . . . McDermid's brilliant update of the characters' outlooks, philosophies, and attitudes within a modern context makes this a reimagined delight for Austen fans."--Amber Peckham, Booklist

"Scottish crime writer McDermid adeptly reworks Jane Austen's Gothic satire for the modern audiences. . . . Following Austen's storyline but diverging in distinctive ways of her own, McDermid captures the naivete of the protagonist of Austen's prose. . . . Rife with conflicts of love, gossip, misunderstandings, and updates on social media, it is an accessible and enjoyable read, especially rewarding for young readers as a gateway into appreciating the classics."--Publishers Weekly

"A timeless story of innocence amid cynicism, the exquisite angst of young love, and the value of friendship."--Murder and Mayhem

Praise for Val McDermid:

"Val McDermid . . . has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it."--Andrew Taylor, The Guardian (UK), on The Retribution

"McDermid is a whiz at combining narrative threads, shifting to the viewpoints of her various characters . . . and ending chapters with cliffhangers that propel you to keep reading. . . . She's the best we've got."--New York Times Book Review, on Killing the Shadows

"One of the most accomplished crime novelists in the UK, Val McDermid has an acute reading of the psychology that lifts her out of the genre strait-jacket. She delivers pulse-raising set-pieces when necessary, but truthfulness of characterization is always more important than the exigencies of plot."--Barry Forshaw, The Independent (UK), on The Vanishing Point

"Smooth. Confident. Deeply satisfying. What else can you say about McDermid's writing?"--Entertainment Weekly (editor's choice), on The Torment of Others

"Her work is taut, psychologically complex and so gripping that it puts your life on hold."--The Times (UK)

About the Author

Val McDermid is the best-selling author of The Skeleton Road and twenty-eight previous novels, which have been translated into over forty languages. She has received numerous awards recognizing her exceptional career, including the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing and the Pioneer Award from Lambda Literary. Her individual books have won many prizes, including the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award and the CWA Gold Dagger.