by Jane Austen
First published 1817
Catherine Morland arrives at Bath with her head full of Gothic romances and a vivid imagination that transforms ordinary events into sinister mysteries. When she befriends the charming Isabella Thorpe and meets the Tilney family, Catherine's literary fantasies begin to shape her view of reality in dangerous ways. At Northanger Abbey, the Tilney family home, Catherine becomes convinced that General Tilney harbors dark secrets like the villains in her beloved novels. Her suspicions about murder and hidden crimes threaten to destroy her budding romance with Henry Tilney and expose her as a foolish romantic. Catherine must learn to separate fiction from reality and discover that real life requires its own kind of courage. This collection also includes the epistolary tale Lady Susan, featuring a manipulative widow's romantic schemes, the unfinished The Watsons about Emma Watson's return to her impoverished family, and the incomplete Sanditon, exploring the absurdities of a seaside resort town.
Genres: fiction, classic-literature, romance, historical-fiction, 19th-century, gothic
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Bath, Northanger Abbey
Period: 19th-century
232 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books