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Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon

Jane Austen

3.94 · Rating details · 6,662 ratings · 230 reviews

Northanger Abbey depicts the misadventures of Catherine Morland, young, ingenuous, and mettlesome, and an indefatigable reader of gothic novels. Their romantic excess and dark overstatement feed her imagination, as tyrannical fathers and diabolical villains work their evil on forlorn heroines in isolated settings. What could be more remote from the uneventful securities of ...more

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Paperback, 379 pages

Published May 1st 2008 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1818)

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Oct 26, 2018 Mary Jaimes-Serrano rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I am a Jane Austen fan. I have read most of her work and love them all. Northanger Abbey is one of my favorites. While it started out slower than what I was expecting, it leads a great path to the growth of an adventurous mind. Overactive imaginations are a wonderful thing especially for writers. But in the time period for young ladies looking for love, they were very troublesome. I could read this over and over again. Oh wait, I already have.

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Jan 11, 2016 Hayat rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction

Another classic I need to read again soon.

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Aug 31, 2019 Beth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century

I've been off-handedly looking for Austen's novels for my home library for a while, and Northanger Abbey was the last one that remained. Thanks to a recent trip to the used bookstore, I now have a well-worn but intact copy of this edition, which includes not only NA, but the other short and incomplete works mentioned in the title. Each has its own unique tone and subject matter, and I was glad to have the opportunity to read them all.

*

Northanger Abbey: Way back when, this novel was in a ...more

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Jul 18, 2019 Elliot A rated it it was amazing

Shelves: jane-austen

I have now come to the part in my research, which requires me to read Austen’s works, finished and unfinished.

I think this was my third or fourth time reading Northanger Abbey and I’m surprised and delighted how every subsequent read is just as entertaining and as fresh as the first read.

I have to say, though, that having done as much research on Austen’s life and work, I’m baffled by the harsh critique some critics give poor Catherine Morland.

She deserves a lot more credit than I have seen her ...more

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Sep 12, 2017 G.G. rated it really liked it

Shelves: 19th-century-novels

On a flight somewhere earlier this year I watched Love and Friendship (2016), the deeply enjoyable film directed by Whit Stillman that is based on Jane Austen’s Lady Susan and stars Kate Beckinsale as the “lovely, calculating, and utterly amoral widow” herself (quoting Claudia L. Johnson’s “Introduction” to the Oxford World’s Classics edition). 2017 being the two hundredth anniversary of Austen’s far-too-early death, it was high time I read the novel itself—as well as The Watsons and Sanditon, ...more

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Jun 20, 2009 Ally rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-classics

This is my favourite of Austen's novels but it's not as straightforward as it appears on first reading...its very demanding of the reader and too many people miss the intelligence behind it and see only the naive silliness of a herione who lives in the world of the Gothic Romance's she's reading rather than the real world.

I love the characterisation in this novel - General Tilney is cast by the heroine Catherine as the perfect Gothic villain, Isabella Thorpe is an arch maipulator and represents This is my favourite of Austen's novels but it's not as straightforward as it appears on first reading...its very demanding of the reader and too many people miss the intelligence behind it and see only the naive silliness of a herione who lives in the world of the Gothic Romance's she's reading rather than the real world.

I love the characterisation in this novel - General Tilney is cast by the heroine Catherine as the perfect Gothic villain, Isabella Thorpe is an arch maipulator and represents all that is vulgar and improper about Bath Society & Henry Tilney is an educator who helps the heroine grow and learn about the world around her without allowing her lose her innocence or spoiling her endearing straightforwardness.

Almost all of the plot is pretty much taken from [Author: Samuel Richardson]'s [Book: Camilla] and other aspects of the story mirror the works of [Author: Ann radcliffe], [Author: Frances Burney] and [Author: Maria Edgeworth] - the density of these literary allusions offers the knowing reader a kind of game or puzzle and invites the reader to spot the connections. This adds weight to the messages Austen is trying to get across about attitudes to reading and fiction in general & explains the full extent of the humour employed.

Austen is also able to make sharp observations about the materialist comodity culture in Bath that relies on 'objects' and displays of wealth to denote a person's worth in the early days of capitalism. Fashionableness itself is parodied and this sets up the eventual moral of the story when Catherine chooses a small community existance at a parsonage over overt display's of wealth and status that she might have had at Northanger Abbey. - Its this element of the novel that acts as a timely reminder of what we ought to value in life and makes the book remarkably current as well as perfect deptiction of 18th Century Bath.

In my opinion, Northanger Abbey should not be read in isolation but as part of a wider serious debate about fiction. Also - this novel is far more politically and socially aware than any of the other novels Austen wrote. A purely superficial reading of this book does not do it justice and I think this may be part of the reason why so many people dislike Northanger Abbey when they read it for the first time. Their expectations are high from the best loved of Austen's works (Pride and Prejudice or Emma for example). This is nothing like Austen's other works and should be taken on its on merits. I'd beg anyone who disliked this novel to give it another go! - Its fabulous!

Ally

...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Ben Babcock rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, own, 2011-read, 19th-century

I've talked smack about Jane Austen before, not so much to discount her ability as a writer—if you question that, then oh, we will throw down—but to compare her unfavourably to George Eliot. What can I say? I was young and stupid two years ago!

Today I would like to apologize to Miss Austen. Since Middlemarch I've come a long way and read a lot more of Austen's works, and while Eliot's novel remains uneclipsed by Austen's novels, my awe and appreciation of Austen's abilities has only increased. ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 Hannah Polley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, jane-austen

I love Jane Austen and these stories are no exception.

Northanger Abbey - this is a short novel as it is less than 200 pages. The heroine, Catherine Morland, spends some time in Bath, where she meets the Tilney's and falls in love with the younger Mr. Tilney. Catherine is invited by his father, General Tilney, to spend some time with the family at Northanger Abbey which Catherine is overjoyed at as she is big fan of Gothic literature. Sadly, Catherine is abruptly turned out by General Tilney and I love Jane Austen and these stories are no exception.

Northanger Abbey - this is a short novel as it is less than 200 pages. The heroine, Catherine Morland, spends some time in Bath, where she meets the Tilney's and falls in love with the younger Mr. Tilney. Catherine is invited by his father, General Tilney, to spend some time with the family at Northanger Abbey which Catherine is overjoyed at as she is big fan of Gothic literature. Sadly, Catherine is abruptly turned out by General Tilney and forced to make her journey home (over 70 miles away) in a public carriage with no servant to accompany her. Catherine does not know what she has done but it turns out that General Tilney found out she wasn't as rich as he thought she was. Anyway it all turns out nicely and she does end up with Mr. Tilney. This did seem a bit of a departure to Austen's normal story and I really enjoyed all the references to Burney's Camilla which is one of my favourite books. Austen seemed to choose this novel to discuss a lot more society's view on novels and what it is proper to read. I really enjoyed all of these references.

Lady Susan - this is a short epistolary story and is a real departure from Austen's usual form. It was great to read something in a completely different format than Austen usually writes in and I tend to enjoy letter novels anyway. You get to read the letters of many characters in this novel and they all focus around Lady Susan, a highly duplicitous and beautiful woman who loves to wind men around her little finger and is motivated by money. It is a real departure from the characters Austen normally writes and is highly enjoyable

The Watsons - this is a very short story as it is unfinished but it definitely had the start of a great Austen novel. Emma Watson was raised by her aunt who was a lady of fortune but after her aunt marries for a second time, Emma is sent back to her poor family to live. Emma catches the eye of the gentry in the neighbourhood at her first ball but also the eye of a rogue. I think this would have been a great story if it had been continued.

Sanditon - this again is a very short story as it is also unfinished but unlike 'The Watsons', I couldn't see which direction this was being taken in. Two families meet due to an unfortunate accident and the daughter of one then spends some time with the other family and the story is the first impressions of who she meets in that village. I couldn't see who she would end up with so I wish there had been more detail on this.

Austen died far too young!

I should say that this was my second reading of this book but it has been so long since I have read it that I couldn't remember much from the first time round. ...more

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Jun 05, 2018 Christine Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: purchased-audio, purchased, paper-books-i-have-actually-read

I've had this weird goal for years. I wanted to read a Jane Austen novel before I saw the movie. Since I had seen almost all the versions of all but one of her books, my choice was narrowed down to Northanger Abby. I did buy the Felicity Jones & JJ Fields film before I read the book, and it sat in its wrapper for years. I will confess that I was a little nervous about reading Austen. I thought her language might be a little too much for me. However, after listening to Middlemarch last year, ...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Chris rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature, fiction, austen

“Blaize Castle!” cried Catherine; “what is that?”
“The finest place in England – worth going fifty miles at any time to see.”
“What, is it really a castle, an old castle?”
“The oldest in the kingdom.”
“But is it like what one reads of?”
“Exactly – the very same.”
“But now really – are there towers and long galleries?”
“By dozens.”

The irony of this dialogue between the imaginative young ingénue Catherine and her would-be suitor, the boorish John Thorpe, is that Blaise Castle is neither the oldest ...more

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Aug 18, 2017 Aaron Eames rated it liked it · review of another edition

Austen’s early, sideswiping send-up of the Gothic genre overturns its conventions of horrid crimes, unlit passages, and dark hearts overflowing with passion, in order to relate Catherine Morland’s first visit to Bath, overflowing with little more horrible than the hypocrisy of a newfound friend, or the rodomontade and unsought solicitations of Mr Thorpe. At Northanger Abbey,however, Catherine’s fondness for Gothic novels tempts her to assume the worst and come to comical conclusions about a ...more

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Aug 27, 2019 Rebecca Rouillard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I had to reread Sanditon after I watched the first episode on Sunday night. While it’ll be up to Andrew Davies to make something of the relationship between Charlotte and Sidney, Jane Austen has laid the groundwork with a feast of comic characters and an evocative setting. It’s particularly impressive that she wrote this fragment while ill, a short time before her death - it is witty, confident and optimistic and provides plenty of ‘scope for the imagination’.

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Feb 14, 2019 Ruth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-tbr, spring-2019-school-reads

I loved Northanger Abbey. The characters, the gothic element, the narration style, it was a lot of fun!

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Feb 23, 2018 Jacquline Ard rated it liked it · review of another edition

I only read Northanger Abbey.

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Jan 17, 2013 Amy rated it liked it

Shelves: female-author

Full review available at: warmdayswillnevercease.wordpress.com

I’ve read this book several times before and I must admit that it’s not my favourite book. I’m not an Austen fan so please bear that in mind while you’re reading this review. I really don’t intend to offend any Austen fans.

I really enjoyed Austen’s writing style. I love that Northanger Abbey is full of intertextual references and I really particularly this section about The Mysteries of Udolpho and other Gothic novels of the time:

“

“Have you ever read Udolpho, Mr. Thorpe?”

“Udolpho! Oh, Lord! Not I; I never read novels; I have something else to do.”

Catherine, humbled and ashamed, was going to apologize for her question, but he prevented her by saying, “Novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff; there has not been a tolerably decent one come out since Tom Jones, except The Monk; I read that t’other day; but as for all the others, they are the stupidest things in creation.”

“I think you must like Udolpho, if you were to read it; it is so very interesting.”

“Not I, faith! No, if I read any, it shall be Mrs. Radcliffe’s; her novels are amusing enough; they are worth reading; some fun and nature in them.”

“Udolpho was written by Mrs. Radcliffe,” said Catherine, with some hesitation, from the fear of mortifying him.

“No sure; was it? Aye, I remember, so it was; I was thinking of that other stupid book, written by that woman they make such a fuss about, she who married the French emigrant.”

“I suppose you mean Camilla?”

“Yes, that’s the book; such unnatural stuff! An old man playing at see-saw, I took up the first volume once and looked it over, but I soon found it would not do; indeed I guessed what sort of stuff it must be before I saw it: as soon as I heard she had married an emigrant, I was sure I should never be able to get through it.”

“I have never read it.”

“You had no loss, I assure you; it is the horridest nonsense you can imagine; there is nothing in the world in it but an old man’s playing at see-saw and learning Latin; upon my soul there is not.”

Sections like this prove that Austen was a very clever writer as she played on the stereotypes of the time, novels were only for women etc., but she twists them until they suit her own needs.

I also like most of the characters although they are annoying occasionally. Henry Tilney is intelligent, enjoys reading novels, but is rather cynical and I really liked him as a character. Much more than Austen’s other ‘heroes’. Eleanor is a lovely character too. She’s quiet and shy but she gets on with Catherine since they share a love of reading. Catherine is rather foolish but she’s a wonderful judge of character. She’s intelligent and even witty on occasion.

The settings were wonderful in this novel. I loved the sections in Bath because Austen focuses on the material nature and the pettiness of the English middle class. Northanger Abbey is also a wonderful setting because it really fuels Catherine’s imagination. I was glad that Austen didn’t make it into a ruin but rather she surprised Catherine and made her rethink her assumptions. A refurbished abbey didn’t stop Catherine from making paranoid assumptions about the General murdering his wife.

I dislike the plot of this book in general. I found it annoying and I think it’s because I’m such a fan of Gothic novels. I do realise that Austen’s parody was probably written out of an appreciation for Gothic novels, especially those of Ann Radcliffe, but for some reason it just sit well with me. It seemed to be to invested in ridiculing young girls who read Gothic novels, even though I imagine that Austen read Gothic novels herself.

I also hated the ending. It was far too rushed and I would have preferred a more ambiguous ending rather than the ‘fairytale’ ending that Austen wrote. The ending just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the novel. That’s just my opinion though. ...more

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Dec 30, 2014 Randee Baty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: british-classic

It seems to be the rage to love Jane Austen right now and for once, I completely agree with a fad. I love Jane Austen's writings. And I love them even more now having read this with my Brit Lit class. My professor was so enthusiastic about this book that it was pure pleasure to attend class each day.

Northanger Abbey is a satire of Gothic novels. That's pretty clear. Catherine is a young girl from a large, middle-class family taken to the luxuries of Bath by her rich childless neighbors. There It seems to be the rage to love Jane Austen right now and for once, I completely agree with a fad. I love Jane Austen's writings. And I love them even more now having read this with my Brit Lit class. My professor was so enthusiastic about this book that it was pure pleasure to attend class each day.

Northanger Abbey is a satire of Gothic novels. That's pretty clear. Catherine is a young girl from a large, middle-class family taken to the luxuries of Bath by her rich childless neighbors. There she meets and mingles with the society types. In the end, she is invited to visit Northanger Abbey where her new friends live. It's a dream come true for the Gothic-novel-loving Catherine. But of course, all is not as it seems.

The characterizations of Catherine, her friends, family and acquaintances are superb. You know these people. You've met them. In real life. While the setting of Bath society is distant from us now, we have no trouble picturing the people and their interactions. I hope I never meet another Isabella or John Thorpe but they are out there.

Each of Jane Austen's heroines is different and special. Catherine begins innocent and naive but is teachable and wants to learn. Her character really grows and matures through the book. She's a heroine to be admired by the end.

One of the things I love about Northanger Abbey is that it is a book about and for readers. Austen was young when she wrote this but she understands exactly what makes a good story and she is constantly making the reader feel important and smart for reading it. She defends the reading of novels when many authors of her time were critical of novels as silly and frivolous. When Henry Tilney tells us that anyone who can't enjoy a novel must be intolerably stupid, we agree with him.

Not only do we get a glimpse of the Gothic novel in this book, we see the novel of manners and the domestic novel played out. Even in this early writing of Jane Austen, her genius for storytelling is clear. This one is easier to read in some ways, than later works like Pride and Prejudice. It isn't as heavy. It has more comic relief. I just really love it and I am so glad I got to read it with a class and a professor that were enthusiastic about it also.
...more

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Feb 22, 2014 Drew rated it liked it

Shelves: gothic

I was so torn by trying to rate this OWC edition of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and several short stories (one complete, two fragments). If I rated it based on Northanger Abbey, I'd have to give it 1 star. I hated it. I also disliked The Watsons and Sandition, though as these were unfinished or discarded manuscripts, it's not fair to judge them too harshly.

But, were I to rate this collection solely on Lady Susan, I wouldn't hesitate to say 5 stars immediately. I am a huge fan of the ...more

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Apr 26, 2008 Jeanette rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1810-1829-publication, jane-austen, e-w-s-i

This book is just seriously funny and filled with Austen's wit. Austen's talent shines as she, tongue in cheek, mocks the fainting heroines, the haunted dwellings and terrors of the Gothic novel.
From the opening description of Catherine Morland to all her pokes at Gothic literature, this book just kept me laughing.
I must mention that I believe the Thorpe's to be some of the best foils to an Austen heroine found in any of her 6 major works. Throughout the novel they were thorns in the side of ...more

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Mar 11, 2008 Bonnie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Wow, what a departure! I loved this very different novel. This book shows Austen's ability to step out of her mold. I particularly liked how she addresses the reader and defines/justifies her heroine's failings yet still allows her the role. A delight!

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Feb 04, 2019 Existential Investigator rated it liked it · review of another edition

The book was okay. I'm of two minds about Jane Austen. Her prose is wonderfully sophisticated, but her stories aren't really that interesting to me. I've read Persuasion prior, which I think is the better book. Northanger Abbey suffers from fairly bland characters, particularly Mr. Tilney who has almost no opportunities to show much of a personality with perhaps a couple of exceptions, but even then I'm thinking more of witty remarks rather than true shows of personality.

The first half of this The book was okay. I'm of two minds about Jane Austen. Her prose is wonderfully sophisticated, but her stories aren't really that interesting to me. I've read Persuasion prior, which I think is the better book. Northanger Abbey suffers from fairly bland characters, particularly Mr. Tilney who has almost no opportunities to show much of a personality with perhaps a couple of exceptions, but even then I'm thinking more of witty remarks rather than true shows of personality.

The first half of this book is very much focused on a series of balls which are meant for the amusement of Catherine on her visit to Bath. My interest did flag, but somehow the book was also light and a very quick read so it was balanced out. The struggle to avoid the affections of John Thorpe were sporadically amusing. Perhaps ironically, because he was the brunt of most of the novel's jokes, John was perhaps the most amusing character of the novel.

My main interest in reading the book was it's critique of gothic novels. That critique is modest and mostly amounts to a challenge that realism provides superior didacticism. The actual misunderstanding was even a little overwrought. I'm not sure if someone would make the argument that Catherine was susceptable to her gothic fantasies because women of the time were not provided enough acquaintance with the way of the world, if that is the case then Austen did not do a very good job of expressing that deficiency.

The last 35% or so of the book, where she travels to Northanger Abbey, was actually the slowest part. There were the fewest real events in that part of the novel and it became mainly exposition without really the pathos or interest of a gothic novel, the addition of which might have aided her critique if done in a more parodic fashion. Perhaps that it was left out was part of the point, that reality can have a more mundane quality to it. Even if that were so, the small scale of the book didn't really give enough to make this a truly great novel.

I understand that it was a very early Austen work, and it does have her trademark focus and the prose is nice. It's a light and quick read. If you're an Austen fan you'll enjoy it, I think. Otherwise, there isn't really much here to warrant going out of one's way to read it. ...more

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Nov 13, 2018 Lorraine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2018

I continue to love Northanger Abbey although on this reread I found the ending rushed. I love the way that Austen frames the narrative with continual discussion of Catherine and how she falls shy of a true heroine. Also love the unremitting spoofing of gothic romance.

Lady Susan I had never read before. Love the epistolary format; seeing the same event through Lady Susan's eyes and then through the eyes of her sister-in-law is really funny. I love how unrepentant and villainous Lady Susan is and ...more

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Nov 07, 2018 Abby Nall rated it really liked it

On Northanger Abbey: Having read all of Austen's other completed novels, I was expecting something different, more akin to the darkness and misery of Mansfield Park (I knew that NA is often described as a gothic novel). However, the characters are well-written in Jane's typical way, the hero and heroine are likable, the villains are easy to despise, and the story entertaining. Jane's parody of contemporary gothic novels and critique of the snobbery that discounted novels as worthless are ...more

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Apr 16, 2019 Chloe Bright rated it liked it

Shelves: school

This is my first Jane Austen read. The plot wasn't too special, but it wasn't boring either. I absolutely stan the fact that this was less than 200 pages!!
I don't really have much to say about it because not much happened, but it wasn't terrible. This isn't a novel of hers that I've heard about much at all beforehand, so I know her others may be better. I might give her other stuff a try, and there's a possibility I may be required to read more of her in the future. Classics aren't really my ...more

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Mar 18, 2018 Dayna Smith rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: got-classics, stuck-on-a-desert-island-must-haves, love-stories, historical-fiction, gothic-romance, realistic-fiction

The classic work of historical fiction by arguably one of the greatest writers of all time. The story of young Catherine who travels to Bath with friends of her family. She is an avid reader, especially of Gothic mysteries like those by Ann Radcliffe. When she meets the Tilney's and is invited to visit them at Northanger Abbey she begins to impart the sinister goings on of her books to the real life General Tilney. She falls in love, learns about the true meaning of friendship, and becomes wiser ...more

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Sep 17, 2018 Cliff Haley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics

I just read Northanger Abbey in the collection of works, and it was definitely worth the read. Northanger Abbey is an excellent work for young reader looking to dive into the world of Austen. This novel was on of her first books and one of the only two of which she did not live to see published. The juvenile nature of the novel helps to guide readers into the satire that exudes from her later works in a obvious but still humorous manner. Definitely make sure to read the introduction because a ...more

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Jun 05, 2017 Jenny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I don't know how many times I've read this book, but definitely more than a couple. The older I get the less I like Austen's works, but in the case of Northanger Abbey, it is so dry, witty and hilarious that I enjoy it thoroughly. I do think it odd that a man such as Henry should form a feeling such as love for Catherine. I can see how he would appreciate her innocence, her idealism and willingness to do good, but as her opinions are all whatever his are, and his affection is based on her first ...more

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Feb 20, 2019 Amanda rated it liked it · review of another edition

If I am remembering my college course order correctly, I read this before I took the class where I read Pamela and Clarrisa. So I guess one good thing came out of having to read those dumb novels - Northanger Abbey was much funnier with that context! And part of the joke is that Catherine, while dim, is by far the most likeable character, correct? The other stories are unfinished and lacking in Austin's command of her other finished works, but fun to get a glimpse of the other plots we almost ...more

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Aug 04, 2017 Jessica McDermitt rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The low rating is for the three smaller stories, not Northanger Abbey! (That one was AMAZING!) The unfinished stories were hard to read, with no paragraphing, wacky spelling, and strange capitalization. But who am I to judge? They're drafts! I'm so cruel... It was fascinating to have insight into Jane Austen's process and drafts.

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Sep 23, 2018 Donovan Erutse rated it liked it

I did not see the turning point coming when really I should have. And I suppose that was what interested me with this book. Another great thing about this book is the constant suspenseful expectation of something followed by disappointment. All in all, I wouldn't say it was a waste of a time to read this book.

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Jan 16, 2018 Jim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-harder-2018

This book is so flawed that it is endearing. I loved it. Jane Austen is great when she is subtle, but she is transcendent when she is blunt. She provides a fantastic portrait of the unique wisdom and ignorance of the over-read, under-lived adolescent.

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About Jane Austen

Jane Austen

45,509 followers

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed ...more