Northanger Abbey - (Signet Classics) by Jane Austen (Paperback)

About the Book

A sly commentary on the power of literature and a warning for women about being too innocent, Austens classic novel of a young woman receiving intensive instruction in the ways of the world features a new Afterword and a striking new package. Revised reissue.

Book Synopsis

Jane Austen's brilliant satire of the gothic novel.

"If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad."

The most sprightly and satirical of Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey was written when the author was herself in her early twenties, and takes for its heroine seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a spirited young woman preoccupied with the pleasures of dressing, dancing, and reading sensational novels.

When she visits Northanger Abbey, the ancestral home of handsome Henry Tilney, Catherine's taste in books comes back to haunt her. The rambling house, full of locked doors, and the family's mysterious history give rise to delightfully dreadful suspicions, and finally only Catherine's sweet nature and good humor triumph over her susceptibility.

A sly commentary on the power of literature as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of naïveté, Northanger Abbey is a fresh and funny tale of one young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, "intensive instruction in the ways of the world."

With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble
and an Afterword by Stephanie Laurens

Review Quotes

"Miss Austen understood the smallness of life to perfection. She was a great artist."--Alfred, Lord Tennyson

About the Author

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Hampshire, England, to George Austen, a rector, and his wife, Cassandra. Like many girls of her day, she was educated at home, where she began her literary career by writing parodies and skits for the amusement of her large family. Although Austen did not marry, she did have several suitors and once accepted a marriage proposal, but only for an evening. Although Austen never lived apart from her family, her work shows a worldly and wise sensibility. Her novels include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Northanger Abbeyand Persuasion, published together posthumously in 1818.

Margaret Drabble is the highly acclaimed novelist, biographer, and editor of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Her novels include The Gates of Ivory, The Seven Sisters, and The Red Queen. She lives in London.

Stephanie Laurens is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty historical romances set in Regency England. Her Cynster and Bastion Club novels are beloved by readers worldwide.