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The novel follows Catherine Morland, an inexperienced young woman whose lively imagination and fondness for sensational novels shape her expectations as she encounters fashionable society, new friendships, and courtship. Social visits and assemblies reveal contrasts between sincerity and affectation, while a close friendship with a more worldly acquaintance draws her into misunderstandings and romantic disappointments. A later stay at an old country house prompts Gothic-inspired anxieties that collide with ordinary explanations. Through wit and irony, the narrative examines the tension between fanciful reading and everyday life, and charts Catherine's growth in judgment, self-awareness, and social perception.
Northanger Abbey was written in 1797-98 under a different title. The manuscript was revised around 1803 and sold to a London publisher, Crosbie & Co., who sold it back in 1816. The Signet Classic text is based on the first edition, published by John Murray, London, in 1818—the year following Miss Austen’s death. Spelling and punctuation have been largely brought into conformity with modern British usage.