Northanger Abbey / Love and Freindship

by Jane Austen

" Northanger Abbey! - These were thrilling words, and wound up Catherine's feelings to the highest point of extasy. Her grateful and gratified heart could hardly restrain its expressions within the language of tolerable calmness. To receive so flattering an invitation! To have her company so warmly solicited! Every thing honourable and soothing, every present enjoyment, and every future hope was contained in it; and her acceptance, with only the saving clause of papa and mamma's approbation was eagerly given. "Taken to Bath for her coming out season, Catherine Morland meets Henry Tilney. Both are passionate readers of Gothic novels. Invited to Northanger Abbey, Tilney's family estate, how could she refuse An abbey! Ruins, locked doors, and forbidden corridors... In this early novel published with Persuasion after Austen's death, reality and fiction blend-to the reader's delight.Love and A brilliant parody of the sentimental novel, written when she was seventeen years old, Love and Freindship is an early confirmation of Austen's gift for irony. Published here with the author's original spelling.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 21, 2005

About the author

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know a lot of people consider this to be the least of Jane Austen's book's. It was the earliest written, and less mature then her later work's. Catherine is not in the same class as Elizabeth Bennett, but I have always been partial to her story. She is a young imaginative girl who allows that imagination to get away from her occasionally. The love story between her and Henry Tillney, causes me great joy every time I read this book. The test of a book is whether it will last. We are still reading and debating this book, so it definitely stands the test of time. Enjoy this book as you will all of Jane Austen's book's. It was her first, but definitely a great read.

[Delphine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the editor of this collection, but I was not at the time this book was published. I do not think I have to sing the praise of NA, everyone has read this great text which is a parody of the gothic novel, however "Love and Freindship" (sic, JA had a wrotten spelling) is a wonderfully funny text she wrote when she was 17. A must-read