Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon (Oxford World’s Classics)

Or does she? Well, I found 'Northanger Abbey' to be a strange but fascinating novel, because in fact it's not so much Austen herself who 'goes gothic', but Catherine Morland, the young and innocent heroine of the book. She's an avid reader of gothic novels, Ann Radcliffe being her favorite author, which has so to speak skewed her vision of the real world: surely every chest must contain a skeleton, and why should doors in dark passageways be locked but to hide some awful family secret?When Catherine travels to Bath with her parents' friends Mr and Mrs Allen, she meets the charming Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor and is enchanted by both of them. Before long she is invited for a stay at Northanger Abbey, the Tilney residence, where she meets Henry's father, General Tilney, who despite his impeccable manners, turns out to be a rather daunting figure. And how did his wife come to die? Catherine is determined to find out...As I said, this is a fascinating book, in which Austen explores the contrast between fiction (tyrannical fathers murdering their wives) and the real world (the settled, uneventful life of a gentry family), and there is definitely much more to this story than at first meets the eye (much of which, I must confess, I would have missed but for the excellent introduction). And apart from that, it is of course written in the typical, delightful Austen-style, with engaging characters and lots of wit, irony and humour (at times even 'laugh-out-loud').This edition also contains 3 shorter pieces of which I read only 'Lady Susan', a delightful epistolary novel about an a-moral, scheming woman. 'The Watsons' and 'Sanditon' I did not read because they are unfinished and were - in Austen's view - not ready for publication. I'm sure both are a real gold mine for Austen-scholars as evidence of 'Austen at work', but personally I preferred to read only what Austen herself felt ready to be published (and I'm not an Austen-scholar either, just an enthusiastic amateur).All in all, I cannot recommend this book warmly enough, just as every other of Austen's novels!

Perfect

This is perhaps Jane Austen's finest work, it's really funny in places! I especially like this edition as not only does it look great you get some of Jane's shorter, unfinished, novels as well!

Great Book!

I've given it so high a rating because it arrived on time, in fact early, and despite warnings, showed no sign of the previous usage and only a few natural signs of wear, which were of no consequence.

Superb, and perhaps my favourite Jane Austen along with Sense and Sensibility. But I also got great pleasure reading the Introduction and Notes by Claudia L. Johnson!

WOULD BUY AGAIN

The quality of the book is perfect, but the envelope was open, I do not know why. It arrived really quickly.

Estudio filología inglesa, y en una asignatura tuve que leer Northanger Abbey. Empecé a leerla porque tenía que hacerlo, pero he de decir que me enganchó

Bein arrivé mais plus de 3 jours en prime...

I've read all of JA's novels numerous times and of all of her books Northanger Abbey was my least favorite. I must admit that reading Lucy Worsely's biography of JA changed all that by casting a bright light on the life and times of the author. When read in this context, my old bugbear became a new favorite and I really began to enjoy the novels. The best part of this edition was the inclusion of Lady Susan.... What a revelation! Here one meets the real Ms Austen : observant, brutally outspoken and realistically caustic. Not a hint of sugar-coated romance in sight

Ottimo

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