Northanger Abbey

A short, funny novel about reading too many novels. Bath is sharp and the abbey is a joke on the heroine, and the ending moves fast and leans on money. Catherine's wrong guesses are the best part. Four out of five (draft). Read it if: you like comedy of manners and a narrator who talks to you; you enjoy gothic novels and want to see them teased; you want a short austen with a quick, funny plot. Skip it if: you want gothic horror: the horror is imagined; you prefer a long, slow-burning romance: the ending is brisk; you want a heroine who is already wise: catherine learns the hard way.

Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. Northanger Abbey ending explained: why General Tilney sends Catherine home at seven in the morning, what Henry does, and how they finally marry. Full spoilers. Northanger Abbey Ending Explained →

Northanger Abbey summary, chapter by chapter, with a scoreboard of Catherine Morland's guesses: the Tilneys, Isabella, the General and a very old house. Full spoilers. Northanger Abbey Summary: Plot Summary by Chapter →

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe.

Catherine Morland, a seventeen year old who loves gothic novels, goes to Bath with neighbors, makes friends with Isabella Thorpe and meets Henry Tilney, then is invited to the Tilney family home, Northanger Abbey. There she imagines the kind of secrets she has read about in novels.

The note on the text in our edition says it was written in 1797 and 1798, revised around 1803 and sold to a London publisher, who sold it back in 1816. It says the first edition was published by John Murray in 1818, the year after Austen's death.

The Project Gutenberg text (ebook #121) has 31 chapters. By our count the story itself, chapter 1 to chapter 31, is about 77,000 words.

The first half is set in Bath, where Catherine stays on Pulteney Street and goes to the Upper and Lower Rooms, the pump-room and the theatre. The second half is at the Tilney family's home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine's own village is Fullerton, in Wiltshire.

No. The novel explains what Catherine expects from gothic stories as it goes, and Henry Tilney and Catherine talk about Udolpho openly. Knowing it adds a few jokes, but it is not required.