I personally really liked this book. It is quite different from Austen’s other books, as it has a more ‘gothic’ theme to it. It is quite short and a really interesting and good story. The characters were amazingly written too!

'Austens gothic parody'You would never think of Jane Austen writing a book like this, its a story about a young girl called Catherine Moreland who (while her stay at bath) falls in love with Mr Henry Tilney, Mr Tilney isnt any other Austen men, he has a certain shine to him.Mr Tilney lives at Northanger Abbey.Catherine enjoys reading books like the Mysteries Of Uldolpho and The Monk, while her stay at Northanger Abbey she lets her imagination fly, with the help of her books.Jane Austen at her best

I like the Everyman hardback collection. They are well put together and reasonably priced. The typeface is clear and easy to read. This particular novel is early Jane Austen, not quite as accomplished as some of her later works, but full of humour and clever literary devices.

Thought to be Austen's first completed novel and due publication during 1803 it didn't see the light of day til 1818, a year after the death of the authoress. Centred around the teenage and then 20s single woman Catherine Morland it takes the reader through her experiences of visiting friends of the family in a pile in the countryside, Bath and eventually arriving at the fictitious Northanger Abbey and concluding there. In structure it seems to be a primary epic littered with a variety of connected people; typical of Austen; the role of love, attraction, observation and social nexus. There are few radical changes to the narrative and it presents itself as a simple read. Yet often the semiotic is unstable and the actions of people seem carefully orchestrated. Ennui might be a condition. Morland in private seems to become a detective in acts and thoughts. Searching a cabinet and chest in the candle lit bedroom her anticipation is one of fear and surprise. The 'eye' to uncover is one characteristic of this novel. Yet, an Austen leitmotif is such that everybody is looking for marriage. Watching social events and the angst of social intercourse interplay with one another making social mores key and presenting characters hewn out of personal observation. The all-encompassing General is writ as a negative force with an underlying threat. Austen uses fear to reveal a note of purity in characterisation. The General barks, orders and fulfils a role of reason without compassion; hard-nosed, too big for the teen Catherine Morland. The latter is 'well read'. Marilyn Butler in her introduction writes well about Austen contemporaries in the novel, including female writers and scene influences, both social and physical scenes. Eleanor Tilney is well written as major supporting role in the narrative; a woman's world by which women become intimate friends; and men observed for their putative marriage suitability. Austen was only 23 years old when she wrote Northanger Abbey. With the other five novels Austen has made herself a 'great' in the history of English literature. Worth a read.

Beautifully presented and a perfect addition to my collection. I love how it has maps and images and a bookmark attached. However my only complaint would be that in the picture it comes across as being light pink and a pinky purple colour, whereas in reality its a light brown book with neon pink keys.