Synopses & Reviews
Internationally best-selling crime writer Val McDermid has riveted millions of readers worldwide with her acutely suspenseful, psychologically complex, seamlessly plotted thrillers. In
Northanger Abbey, she delivers her own, witty, updated take on Austens classic novel about a young woman whose visit to the stately home of a well-to-do acquaintance stirs her most macabre imaginings, with an extra frisson of suspense that only McDermid could provide.
Cat Morland is ready to grow up. A homeschooled ministers daughter in the quaint, sheltered Piddle Valley in Dorset, she loses herself in novels and is sure there is a glamorous adventure awaiting her beyond the valleys narrow horizon. So imagine her delight when the Allens, neighbors and friends of her parents, invite her to attend the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh as their guest. With a sunny personality, tickets every night and a few key wardrobe additions courtesy of Susie Allen, Cat quickly begins to take Edinburgh by storm and is taken into the bosom of the Thorpe family, particularly by eldest daughter Bella. And then theres the handsome Henry Tilney, an up-and-coming lawyer whose family home is the beautiful and forbidding Northanger Abbey. Cat is entranced by Henry and his charming sister Eleanor, but she cant help wondering if everything about them is as perfect as it seems. Or has she just been reading too many novels? A delectable, note-perfect modern update of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey tells a timeless story of innocence amid cynicism, the exquisite angst of young love, and the value of friendship.
Review
Praise for Northanger Abbey:The unmitigated pleasure here is the obvious relish with which McDermid relocates Austens Regency England tale of romantic intrigue in Baths high-society circuit and imaginatively-spun Gothic intrigue at a rural abbey to 21st-century Britain. . . . McDermids success lies in her ability to allow her version of Northanger Abbey to dovetail tidily and enjoyably with Austens original while infusing it with her own humor, wit, and style. . . . Long before Cat is off to the Tilneys abbey, long before our modern-day crime author draws a final, canny ace from her tartan sleeve, youll have succumbed to the delights of Northanger à la McDermid.”Daneet Steffens, The Boston Globe
Gold Dagger Awardwinning British crime writer McDermid offers a canny new twist on Jane Austens early novel. . . . McDermids brilliant update of the characters outlooks, philosophies, and attitudes within a modern context makes this a reimagined delight for Austen fans.”Amber Peckham, Booklist
Scottish crime writer McDermid adeptly reworks Jane Austens Gothic satire for the modern audiences. . . . Following Austens storyline but diverging in distinctive ways of her own, McDermid captures the naivete of the protagonist of Austens prose. . . . Rife with conflicts of love, gossip, misunderstandings, and updates on social media, it is an accessible and enjoyable read, especially rewarding for young readers as a gateway into appreciating the classics.”Publishers Weekly
Praise for Val McDermid:
Val McDermid . . . has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it.”Andrew Taylor, The Guardian (UK), on The Retribution
McDermid is a whiz at combining narrative threads, shifting to the viewpoints of her various characters . . . and ending chapters with cliffhangers that propel you to keep reading. . . . Shes the best weve got.”New York Times Book Review, on Killing the Shadows
One of the most accomplished crime novelists in the UK, Val McDermid has an acute reading of the psychology that lifts her out of the genre strait-jacket. She delivers pulse-raising set-pieces when necessary, but truthfulness of characterization is always more important than the exigencies of plot.”Barry Forshaw, The Independent (UK), on The Vanishing Point
Smooth. Confident. Deeply satisfying. What else can you say about McDermids writing?”Entertainment Weekly (editors choice), on The Torment of Others
Her work is taut, psychologically complex and so gripping that it puts your life on hold.”The Times (UK)
About the Author
Val McDermid is the best-selling author of twenty-seven previous novels, which have been translated into over forty languages. She lives in the north of England.