Jane Austen 
Northanger Abbey 

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen  
Northanger Abbey  (/ˈnɔːrθæŋər/) is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox’s 
The Female Quixote (1752). 
Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen’s novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with 
Persuasion.



The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.



Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is ‘in training for a heroine’ and is fond of reading Gothic novels, ‘provided they were all story and no reflection’.



Catherine is invited by the Allens (her wealthier neighbours in Fullerton) to accompany them to visit the city of Bath and partake in the winter season of balls, theatre and other social delights. Soon she is introduced to a clever young gentleman,  Henry Tilney, with whom she dances and converses.



Through Mrs. Allen’s old schoolfriend Mrs. Thorpe, she meets her daughter Isabella, who introduces Catherine to Ann Radcliffe’s 
Mysteries of Udolpho, and the two quickly become friends. Mrs. Thorpe’s son, John, is also a friend of Catherine’s older brother, James, at Oxford where they are both students.