Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Short summary

5 seconds

Catherine Morland visits the Abbey, where she meets Henry Tilney and his family. One day she is asked to leave the house. Later she discovers that the rejected beau has spoken out against her family.

1 minute

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is fascinated by Gothic literature. One day rich neighbors invite her to visit Bath Abbey with them. There she meets a mysterious young man, Mr. Henry Tilney and his family. Isabella Thorpe, who dreams of marrying Catherine’s brother, appears in the heroine’s entourage. One day the girl is asked to leave the house.

After a while it turns out that the general who invited her to visit wanted to see Catherine as his sister-in-law. He had received bad reports about her condition from an admirer who had previously rejected the girl. The potential daughter-in-law was not rich enough for the general.

Henry gives Catherine a letter. From it the girl learns that Isabella has broken off with her brother and is marrying Henry’s brother Frederick.

After the general learns of Morland’s true means and of Thorpe’s deceit in maliciously lying about the family’s poverty, he hands his son his written consent to his marriage to Catherine.