Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey Illustrated Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. It was completed for publication in 1803, making it the first of Austen's novels in order of completion, but was only published posthumously in 1817 with another of her novels, Persuasion. The story revolves around Catherine Morland, the young and naïve "heroine", and her journey to a better understanding of herself and the world around her. 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 excessively fond of reading Gothic novels, among which Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho is a favourite.