Northanger Abbey: With Commentary by Benjamin Fife

Catherine Morland comes from a big family of modest means and has never had any aspirations to landing a Darcy or a Colonel Brandon as you might find in Austen's other novels. Catherine's family seems to be fairly unremarkable. She truly is the least likely of Austen's heroines to be in that role. She is naive as to what might actually happen when she's invited on a trip to Bath with a family friend. But others are more conniving. John and Isabella Thorpe have their own ideas and assumptions about Miss Morland and her expectations.

Meanwhile, Catherine just wants a friend and fancies that she might like to have some element of romance come her way. Presumptions and assumptions don't enter her mind.

The posturing and conniving of John Thorpe first assumes that he has a claim to Catherine and his assumptions about her supposed inheritance motivates him to attempt to secure her good fortune for his own. Thorpe's assumptions lead on to a retired General's assumptions and plans for securing his and his son's legacy. The grand comedy of errors is set up for an eventual collapse when the truth of Catherine's actual background is made plain.


This edition features prominent Jane Austen Variation narrator Benjamin Fife's reflections on the work from a 21st century perspective and is part of his ongoing presentation of Benny Fife Audio Classics.