A modern re-imagining of the Gothic Classic Northanger Abbey by the bestselling crime author Val McDermid. The second book in The Austen Project. In Val's trademark style of great storytelling and suspense meet modern day Cat whose world is turned upside down and her innocence lost as she is taken from rural Dorset to experience the bright lights of Edinburgh and the festival. Seamless prose complementing dialogue that's speckled with wit, it is clear that Val McDermid clearly relished the writing of this contemporary and page-turning take on Northanger Abbey.
This is the second novel in 'The Austen Project', following hot on the heels of Joanna Trollope's Sense & Sensibility, and will be followed by Alexander McCall Smith's Emma in Autumn 2014 and Curtis Sittenfeld's Pride & Prejudice in Autumn 2015.
A message from Val McDermid:
'Being a writer is about embracing challenges. Northanger Abbey is the least read and the least well-known of Jane Austen's novels. But only because our reading interests have changed and we don't get the joke that underpins the book. the challenge for me was to make this reworking come alive, with a sprinkling of wit and a dash of dramatic suspense.'
Seventeen-year-old Catherine 'Cat' Morland has led a sheltered existence in rural Dorset, a life entirely bereft of the romance and excitement for which she yearns. So when Cat's wealthy neighbours, the Allens, invite her to the Edinburgh Festival, she is sure adventure beckons. Edinburgh initially offers no such thrills: Susie Allen is obsessed by shopping, Andrew Allen by the Fringe. A Highland Dance class, though, brings Cat a new acquaintance: Henry Tilney, a pale, dark-eyed gentleman whose family home, Northanger Abbey, sounds perfectly thrilling. And an introduction to Bella Thorpe, who shares her passion for supernatural novels, provides Cat with a like-minded friend. But with Bella comes her brother John, an obnoxious banker whose vulgar behaviour seems designed to thwart Cat's growing fondness for Henry. Happily, rescue is at hand. The rigidly formal General Tilney invites her to stay at Northanger with son Henry and daughter Eleanor. Cat's imagination runs riot: an ancient abbey, crumbling turrets, secret chambers, ghosts...and Henry! What could be more deliciously romantic? But Cat gets far more than she bargained for in this isolated corner of the Scottish Borders. The real world outside the pages of a novel proves to be altogether more disturbing than the imagined world within...
Praise for The Austen Project: 'The Austen Project is a breathtaking tribute to Jane Austen. I can't wait to read the other five updates while being reminded to reread, joyfully, the originals Washington Post Praise for The Mermaids Singing:
'Compelling and shocking', MINETTE WALTERS 'Terrifying but stylish, cruel and compassionate. Truly, horribly good' Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday
'Gripping, intelligent stuff' The Times
Author
About Val McDermid
Val McDermid is a number one bestselling author whose novels have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold over nineteen million copies. She has won many awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger, the LA Times Book of the Year Award and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. Val writes full-time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife.
