AJ Dunn Reads

  Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen We all know the basic premise of any Jane Austen novel: the heroin in grand society (a lady, but not necessarily of comparable means to those she interacts with) meets a man and falls for him through a series of misadventures with him, his family, her own family and friends, and society at large. There is the inevitable backdrop of town versus country with a lot of commentary on social manners and settings. All very picturesque and full of Austen's biting wit. Northanger Abbey is no exception. This book, Austen's first real attempt at a novel even though it was last to be published, was originally called Susan. This makes sense when reading the book, in that the bits about the Abbey only appear toward the last third of the book. Mostly the story is about Catherine Morland meeting and falling in love with Henry Tilney when she is on holiday with friends in Bath. Catherine, newly beautiful and feminine, meets Henry and his sister while engaged w...