Northanger Abbey

(Paperback)

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Jane Austen in the hands of queen of crime, Val McDermid. Get ready for a very different Northanger Abbey.
For Cat Morland life being home-schooled in Dorset is unendurably ordinary. To cope, she devours as many novels as possible, especially anything supernatural. But if Cat can tear her eyes away from the page, shes in for a shock: the very stuff of her dreams is about to come true.

An invite to the Edinburgh Festival from some wealthy neighbours throws her in the way of a mysterious young man, Henry Tilney; a like-minded friend, Isabella Thorpe; and her odious brother, who threatens to ruin Cats chances of adventure. But this heroine is not so easily deterred, especially when shes singled out by the Tilney family to stay with them at their imposing gothic castle, Northanger Abbey.

Turrets and creaking doors there may be, but in the depths of the Scottish Borders Cat is isolated from the outside world, with no phone signal and no internet. Shes all alone in an ancient abbey alive with old secrets and a family who are not quite as they seem. Is real life about to become more terrifying than the world of her imagination

Reviews

Praise for Northanger Abbey:

'Val McDermids brilliant re-working of Jane Austens original shows that innocent, bookish girls in thrall to the supernatural have changed surprisingly little in two centuries. Witty and shrewd, full of romance and skulduggery I loved it.'
J.K. ROWLING

Brilliant I was utterly charmed by this newfangled Austen and look forward eagerly to Alexander McCall Smiths Emma
John Sutherland, Financial Times

Funny and brilliantly written Jenny Colgan, Guardian

Northanger Abbey is funny, clever, subversive and Scottish. No bonnets all brio
JEANETTE WINTERSON

I picked up Northanger Abbey one evening and didnt stop reading until Id finished it. Its an exquisitely realised tale of the uncertainty and brutality of teenage years told with the lightness of touch and humour that Val is famous for. Utter brilliance from McDermid SUSAN CALMAN

McDermids reworking of the original novel is intelligent, amusing and well-written captures beautifully how it feels to be a teenager McDermid is a subtle and witty writer and its hard to imagine a better evocation of the spirit of the original. THE TIMES

A fun rendering McDermids Abbey, with its passageways and dark corners, is fantastic, and this novel is a lark. SUNDAY TIMES

McDermids great virtue is to have made Austens characters seem fresh in the way they would have been for her first readers I can imagine Jane herself applauding. SUNDAY EXPRESS

Note perfect breezy, vital, inventive Her obvious pleasure in the task is as contagious as Austens wit. THE SCOTSMAN

Praise for The Austen Project:

The Austen Project is a breathtaking tribute to Jane Austen. I cant wait to read the other five updates while being reminded to reread, joyfully, the originals Washington Post

Author Bio

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years, spending the last three as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. She divides her time between Northumberland and Cheshire.