Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey was written in 1798, but it was not published until after Jane Austen's death. The novel is the coming of age story of Catherine Morland, who is taken to the fashionable resort of Bath with her friends the Allens. While in Bath, she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor. The Tilneys invite Catherine to Northanger Abbey, the Tilneys' family estate. Catherine, an avid reader of Gothic novels, soon becomes obsessed with the thought that possible atrocities are going on at the abbey. The first of Jane Austen's novels, this is a wonderful satire of the Gothic novels of that era. Austen pokes fun at the romantic follies of the genteel classes as they pursue love, marriage, and money.