“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.”
I have been an admirer of Jane Austen’s works but I had fairly low expectations when I picked up ‘Northanger Abbey’, because this is one of her lesser-discussed novels. People endlessly praise ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Persuasion’, while ‘Northanger Abbey’ quietly sits in the corner, rarely becoming anyone’s first recommendation.
Well… that was my mistake.
This book is 208 years old, yet it remains astonishingly entertaining. It made me laugh, smile knowingly, cringe in second-hand embarrassment, and feel every ounce of Catherine Morland’s excitement and anxiety. Few classics feel this fresh.
Above all, ‘Northanger Abbey’ is a coming-of-age story wrapped in satire. Austen gently reminds us that growing up often means discovering that the world is far less romantic than we imagined.
Catherine Morland was an absolute delight!
She is wonderfully “delulu” (and I mean that with the highest affection). She is innocent without being foolish, imaginative without being malicious, and kind without expecting anything in return. She genuinely wants to think well of everyone, and that quality made me want to protect her throughout the novel. Not once did I find myself frustrated with her. Instead, I found myself rooting for her to learn, grow, and still retain the goodness that makes her who she is. For me, Catherine truly comes of age after General Tilney throws her out of Northanger Abbey in such an unceremonious manner. It is the moment when her innocence collides with the hypocrisy and cruelty of society.
Speaking of the Tilneys…
Henry Tilney completely surprised me. Initially, I found him rather aloof. I was also a little hesitant because the relationship seemed to flirt with a trope I generally dislike: the intellectually superior man and the inexperienced heroine. I was afraid Henry would become condescending. Thankfully, Jane Austen had other plans.
I completely changed my opinion when Henry discovers Catherine’s embarrassing midnight adventure. Instead of mocking or humiliating her, he immediately understands how mortified she must feel and gently puts her at ease. That was the moment I realized Henry isn’t simply intelligent, he is wise. His intelligence never becomes a weapon but it’s softened by kindness and emotional maturity. That, more than anything else, made me appreciate him.
Eleanor Tilney deserves more love as well. Although she remains in the background, she is warm, sensible, and quietly charming.
General Tilney, on the other hand… Absolutely villainous. Sending a young woman away alone after treating her as an honoured guest is disgraceful. Even today such behaviour would be considered deeply inconsiderate. His obsession with wealth strips away every illusion of gentility and perfectly exposes Austen’s criticism of social pretensions.
And then there are the Thorpes.
John Thorpe may very well be one of the most irritating characters I have ever encountered. Every conversation somehow circles back to horses, carriages, and his own exaggerated importance. His arrogance, selfishness, and relentless talking tested my patience in ways few fictional characters ever have. Isabella fares a little better. I never trusted her affection for Catherine, seeing it instead as manipulation disguised as friendship. Together, the Thorpes represent selfish ambition wrapped in superficial charm.
One of my favourite aspects of the novel was Austen’s satire of polite society. Catherine’s straightforward honesty constantly clashes with a world where people rarely mean exactly what they say. Through Catherine’s innocent misunderstandings, Austen brilliantly exposes the performative politeness and hypocrisy of the upper classes. The humour isn’t loud but observant. Rather than laughing out loud, I found myself smiling constantly at Austen’s wit.
A reason for that could be Austen’s narrator. I adored the narrator! The witty asides, direct conversations with the reader, playful commentary, and self-aware humour made me feel as though Austen herself was sitting beside me, telling the story with a mischievous smile. It is one of my favourite narrative voices I have encountered in a long time, and I know I am going to miss it.
Another amazing aspect of ‘Northanger Abbey’ was Jane Austen’s passionate defence of novels. Reading the book today, I found myself genuinely astonished. In our time, reading novels is often regarded as an admirable hobby. There are even people who wear the label of “reader” with a certain pride, sometimes behaving as though reading alone makes them intellectually superior. How fascinating, then, to travel back over two centuries and discover a world where novels themselves were looked down upon.
Austen refuses to accept that prejudice. Instead, she directly addresses her readers and criticises the strange habit of authors who belittle novels, the very medium that gives them a voice. She goes even further by making her most admirable characters unapologetic lovers of novels. One of my favourite moments comes when Henry Tilney declares:
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
I wanted to stand up and applaud. It is no coincidence that Henry and Catherine both delight in reading novels, while John Thorpe constantly boasts that he never reads them. Here, Austen dismantles the notion that novels are intellectually inferior. She suggests instead that imagination, empathy, and pleasure in stories are qualities worth celebrating.
Did I secretly hope Catherine’s Gothic suspicions would turn out to be true? …Yes. For a brief while, I was just as carried away by her imagination as she was.
The only criticism I have is the ending. Once the central conflict reaches its climax, everything resolves with surprising speed. Although I understand Austen’s playful intention of parodying sentimental endings, I still wished she had allowed the conclusion a little more room to breathe. Even so, ‘Northanger Abbey’ exceeded every expectation I had.
I would highly recommend this book to the following readers:
- Young readers who find classics boring
- Old readers who wanna feel young again
- Readers who love staying in their own literary world
- Literature students (to appreciate the art of storytelling that keeps being charming 208 years later!)
It is funny, clever, surprisingly modern, affectionate towards its heroine, and wonderfully self-aware. It proves that a classic doesn’t need grand tragedies or sweeping romances to remain timeless. Sometimes all it needs is a lovable heroine, an unforgettable narrator, and an author clever enough to laugh both at literature and with it. ‘Northanger Abbey’ has comfortably earned a place among my favourite classics, and I know this won’t be my last visit to Bath, or to Northanger Abbey itself.
Final rating - 4.5 out of 5
Words - 1090
Images - 7
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