All good things come to an end.  Reviewing Northanger Abbey finalizes my happy stint as the chair of the Jane Austen Book Club. While Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first completed novel in 1803, it was only published posthumously together with Persuasion in 1817. The book follows 12 months in the life of 17-year-old Miss Catharine Morland who lives in a happy family with comfortable means (her father is a country clergyman). Catharine is naive as befits young ladies of her age. She likes reading […]

It is a bold move from Jane Austen to introduce the first proper conflict by the two-thirds mark. I’m referring, of course, to the moment when Fanny Price commences her journey of becoming an individual with agency: her refusal to marry Mr. Crawford. Even if it displeases the mighty Sir Thomas, her uncle. Prior to this event the name of the book, Mansfield Park really was accurate: Jane Austen was writing about the place, people that live there, and events that occur. However, the heroine […]