Northanger Abbey

by Val McDermid

Jane Austen in the hands of queen of crime, Val McDermid. Get ready for a very different Northanger Abbey.

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...

• ISBN10: 2824641177
• ISBN13: 9782824641171
• Publish Date: 4 June 2014 (first published 27 March 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Terra Nova
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 352
• Language: French

Reviews

[Ace]

Originally posted: http://www.novelthoughts.org/index.php?post=northanger-abbey-val-mcdermid

Things I love: Jane Austen, Scotland, History, Vampires

Things this book has: Jane Austen, Scotland, History, Vampires

I'd heard about this series ages ago - before they were actually published I believe - but it took me awhile to get around to reading them which is a shame. This one is fast paced, sticks to the theme of Jane Austen (woman is thrown into new circumstances, meets attractive boy, meets a friend who she thinks is great, said friend has a brother who is out to ruin her, said friend turns out not who she says but woman gets happily ever after as well as the secret that nearly ruins her). I might have known exactly what was going to happen throughout the book, but it was absolutely riveting nonetheless and I kept going wanting to know what would happen, how things would happen. Done perfectly the book while keeping true to Jane Austen it was modern enough that it didn't feel like it was just rewriting the original novel.

McDermid, mixed in modern day Scotland from the Book Fair to the locations with ease.

Now that wasn't to say it was perfect in any way. There are certainly bits that annoyed me - the constant texting back and forth using netspeak? Yes they're teenagers in 2015, but I just even in my mid 20s had to take a moment and actually sit back to try and figure out what they were talking about at times. The obsession with Twilight? Sure there is a fascination with Vampires and gothic mysteries but it might have gone a bit too overboard at times to the point I was rolling my eyes while I read certain passages of the book.

General Tilney & idiot!boy (John Trollope). I wanted to smack them. Yes, that was the point but you'd think her friends and he would actually take the chance to talk things through rather than jumping to conclusions. That bit was probably one of the more, frustrating aspects of the novel.

I think I came in expecting to enjoy the book but otherwise didn't have high expectations, I wasn't expecting literary greatness. As much as I enjoy McDermid's books she isn't Austen but in fact, a crime writing and this is aimed for young adults. So overall I think it was a fairly enjoyable read.

[brokentune]

‘General Tilney?’
She spoke with some diffidence as Mrs Calman cleared away the soup dishes and placed a selection of curries and side dishes in the middle of the table.
‘I wonder whether it might be possible for me to use your wifi?’ She caught the look of alarm shared by Henry and Ellie.
‘The wifi?’ The General frowned. ‘Is that entirely necessary?’
‘I wanted to check my email.’
‘My dear girl, why? Your parents and the Allens know precisely where you are and have the telephone number, so if there were any urgent need to contact you, there would be no difficulty.’ He spooned rice on to his plate and added some lamb methi. ‘You don’t have any kind of job yet, so there can be no urgent business communication awaiting you. In short, Catherine, there’s no conceivable reason other than the purely frivolous for you to “check your email”. Isn’t that so?’


I am not an Austen purist. I am not all that attached to the original Northanger Abbey. The idea of McDermid re-telling the story for a modern audience was just too good to pass up. And does it work?
Amazingly, I found myself giggling along - especially whenever McDermid did lift the story out of its time and applied a hefty dose of 21st century cynicism to it. But it was not just the idea of modernising the settings and gadgets. She also transformed the dialogue to appropriate it to a YA story set in the present day UK - and choosing the Edinburgh Festival as the modern day equivalent of Bath was just inspired.

Of course, McDermid being McDermid, she clearly had fun exploring the mystery part of the story from the point of view of someone assessing a potential crime scene:

The stain was on the bottom of the last drawer, about the size and shape of a blade. The sort of stain you’d expect if someone had laid a bloody knife there. She made a small mewing sound in the back of her throat and recoiled from the chest. And yet, the streak of curiosity that ran through Cat as strongly as her blood itself could not keep from examining the piece of furniture. As her eye calibrated the dimension, she realised there was a gap beneath the bottom drawer of perhaps five or six centimetres. Could the answer to the bloodstain – for so she had already classified it without a waver of doubt – lie in the space beneath?