u003cbu003eListen to audio presented by Literary Affairs: Jane Austen's u003ciu003eNorthanger Abbeyu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003e.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cbu003eView our feature on Jane Austen.u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eDuring an eventful season at Bath, young, naive Catherine Morland experiences the joys of fashionable society for the first time. She is delighted with her new acquaintances: flirtatious Isabella, who shares Catherine's love of Gothic romance and horror, and sophisticated Henry and Eleanor Tilney, who invite her to their father's mysterious house, Northanger Abbey. There, her imagination influenced by novels of sensation and intrigue, Catherine imagines terrible crimes committed by General Tilney. With its broad comedy and irrepressible heroine, this is the most youthful and and optimistic of Jane Austen's works.u003cbru003e
