Northanger Abbey was Austen’s first completed novel, but it
remained unpublished until after her death. The seventeen-year-old
heroine, Catherine Morland, has a fanciful imagination and a fondness
for Gothic novels. Naive and oblivious to the true nature of the world,
she encounters love and heartbreak on her journey to adulthood.
Lighter in tone than Austen’s later works, the novel parodies the
hugely popular Gothic works of the period. It has been adapted into
several film, television and theatre productions, and has even been
reimagined as a teen thriller under The Austen Project by Scottish
crime writer Val McDermid.