Synopses & Reviews
Spirited Elizabeth Bennet matches wits and wiles of the heart with the arrogant Mr. Darcy in this entertaining portrait of matrimonial rites and rivalries in Regency England.
@FirstThoughtBestThought Usually a man wills his home to his wife or kids. But sometimes, he wills it to a distant relative, so when he dies, you’re out on your ass.
And then, and THEN, that distant, meddlesome priest of a relative tries to seduce one of your sisters.
Unsure why anyone would want my sisters. All they want is to hit it with the officers – what war are they even fighting in the countryside?
Though my older sister–Jane–is nice. How could she not be? Jane is such a good name. I would like anybody named Jane.
From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less
Review
“[Austen] had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is…the most wonderful I ever met.”—Sir Walter Scott
Synopsis
One of the first of Jane Austen's novels to be written, and one of the last to be published, Northanger Abbey is both an amusing story of how a naive girl enters society and wins the affection of a witty young clergyman, and a high-spirited parody of the lurid Gothic novels that were popular during Austen's youth. In the process it features a vivid account of social life in late eighteenth-century Bath, and Austen's famous defence of the novel as a literary form. This edition, based on the text of the novel as published posthumously in 1818, is accompanied by explanatory notes, and an appendix summarising the plots and situations of the Gothic fictions that form the basis of much of Austen's comedy. In addition there is an extensive critical introduction covering the context, publication, and critical history of the novel, a chronology of Austen's life, and authoritative textual apparatus.
Synopsis
Jane Austen's brilliant satire of the gothic novel.
The most sprightly and satirical of Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey was written when the author was herself in her early twenties, and takes for its heroine seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a spirited young woman preoccupied with the pleasures of dressing, dancing, and reading sensational novels. But when she visits Northanger Abbey, the ancestral home of handsome Henry Tilney, Catherine's taste in books comes back to haunt her. The rambling house full of locked doors and the family's mysterious history give rise to delightfully dreadful suspicions, and finally only Catherine's sweet nature and good humor triumph over her susceptibility. A sly commentary on the power of literature as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of naivete, Northanger Abbey is a fresh and funny tale of one young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, "intensive instruction in the ways of the world."
With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble
and an Afterword by Stephanie Laurens
Synopsis
Jane Austen's brilliant satire of the gothic novel. "If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad."
The most sprightly and satirical of Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey was written when the author was herself in her early twenties, and takes for its heroine seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a spirited young woman preoccupied with the pleasures of dressing, dancing, and reading sensational novels.
When she visits Northanger Abbey, the ancestral home of handsome Henry Tilney, Catherine's taste in books comes back to haunt her. The rambling house, full of locked doors, and the family's mysterious history give rise to delightfully dreadful suspicions, and finally only Catherine's sweet nature and good humor triumph over her susceptibility.
A sly commentary on the power of literature as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of na vet , Northanger Abbey is a fresh and funny tale of one young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, "intensive instruction in the ways of the world."
With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble
and an Afterword by Stephanie Laurens
Synopsis
The most authoritative and most fully annotated critical edition available of Austen's first novel.
Synopsis
New package for Austen's brilliant satire of the gothic novel A sly commentary on the power of literature and a warning for women about being too innocent, here is a fresh, funny novel of a young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, "intensive instruction in the ways of the world."
Synopsis
Spirited Elizabeth Bennet is one of a family of five daughters, and with no male heir, the Bennet estate must someday pass to their priggish cousin William Collins. Therefore, the girls must marry well—and thus is launched the story of Elizabeth and the arrogant bachelor Mr. Darcy, in a novel renowned as the epitome of romance and wit.
Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s masterwork, an entertaining portrait of matrimonial rites and rivalries, timeless in its hilarity and its honesty.
With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble And an Afterword by Eloisa James
About the Author
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on July 18, 1817.
As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives.
Margaret Drabble is recipient of many prestigious awards for her writing, which includes works of nonfiction as well as numerous novels.