Northanger Abbey: Illustrated by Hugh Thomson

The first novel Jane Austen completed, Northanger Abbey wasn’t released until 1818, shortly after her untimely death at the age of 41. Originally written by Austen from 1794 to 1798 and revised in 1803 shortly before selling it for £10 to the publisher Crosby & Co. (who sat on the book for 15 years), the novel is a satire of the Gothic romances so popular during the last decade of the 18th century. Being Austen’s first novel, it shares some similarities with the Juvenilia of her childhood while also featuring the themes she would go on to explore in all her novels—class, morality, manners, hypocrisy, and the vicissitudes of romantic courtship. Catherine Morland, the 17-year-old heroine of Northanger Abbey, must grow up, find true love, and learn to discern the difference between the world and the world as depicted within the pages of a Gothic novel. For fans of Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey holds a unique place in her canon.