Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey was one of Austen's earliest novels, written in 1798, but it was not published until after Austen's death. The novel is the coming of age story of Catherine Morland who is taken to the fashionable resort of Bath with her friends the Allens. While in Bath, she meets Henry Tilbey and his sister Eleanor. The Tilney's invite Catherine to Northanger Abbey, the Tilney's family estate. Catherine, an avid reader of Gothic novels, soon becomes obsessed with the thought that possible atrocities are going on at the abbey.

Jane Austen's delightful, carefully wrought novels of manners remain surprisingly relevant, nearly 200 years after they were first published. Her novels -- Pride and Prejudice and Emma among them -- are those rare books that offer us a glimpse at the mores of a specific period while addressing the complexities of love, honor, and responsibility that still intrigue us today.