Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen, 1818

Courtship and marriage Gothic and ghostly Comic classics

A young reader enters fashionable society with an imagination nourished by novels and little experience of its own.

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Listen free: the LibriVox audiobook, read by volunteers. Press Listen in the reader to hear each chapter as you read.

Length: 31 chapters
Reading time: About 5 hr 23 min
Words: 76,916

About the book

Catherine Morland has none of the childhood qualities that a conventional heroine might be expected to possess. When she is invited to Bath, she nevertheless acquires the prospect of an adventure. New acquaintances offer her an education in conversation, friendship and social expectation.

Austen's narrator treats the conventions of fiction as playfully as the customs of polite company. Catherine's reading makes her eager to recognise stories in the world around her. The comedy asks how a generous but inexperienced person can distinguish an exciting interpretation from a sound judgement.

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Courtship and marriage Gothic and ghostly Comic classics

This edition

Text from Standard Ebooks, who proofread and typeset it and dedicate their edition to the public domain. Jane Austen died more than 70 years ago, so the work is out of copyright in the UK. Includes the original advertisement.