Northanger Abbey

March 17, 2014
Scottish crime writer McDermid (Cross and Burn) adeptly reworks Jane Austen's Gothic satire for the modern audiences. A homeschooled minister's daughter bored by the "narrow confines" of the Dorset countryside and her "deeply average and desperately dull" family, Cat is given her break when her neighbors invite her as their guest to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There, Cat befriends the needy Bella Thorpe who fancies Cat's brother and meets the captivating Henry Tilney, with his "heroic" face and "luxuriant honey-blond hair." Drama ensues. "When she looked back on that first meeting, Cat would wonder whether she should have been more wary of a man who began their acquaintance with such a blatant lie. For there was nothing gentle about what followed." As Cat gets acquainted with Eleanor, Henry's sister, she secures an invitation to their family home, the enchanting Northanger Abbey, a mansion of possible secrets that stirs the darkest recesses of Cat's overworked imagination. Following Austen's storyline but diverging in distinctive ways of her own, McDermid captures the naivete of the protagonist of Austen's prose, though at times her teenage characters come off as contrived in their language and behavior. Rife with conflicts of love, gossip, misunderstandings, and updates on social media, it is an accessible and enjoyable read, especially rewarding for young readers as a gateway into appreciating the classics. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company.

March 15, 2014
In the second installment of the Austen Project, which has contemporary writers updating the classic novels, McDermid (Cross and Burn, 2013, etc.) strives to reinvigorate an overlooked Gothic parody with a 21st-century makeover. Clergyman's daughter Catherine Morland is known as Cat in her latter-day incarnation. She posts selfies to Facebook and fuels an overactive imagination reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies rather than The Mysteries of Udolpho. Nevertheless, home schooling and a rural upbringing have kept her almost as naive as Austen's 17-year-old heroine. Cat's big shot at longed-for adventure comes when some neighbors invite her to accompany them to the Edinburgh Festival for the summer. There she meets brash Bella Thorpe; her boorish brother, Johnny; and the refined Tilney siblings, Henry and Ellie. Cat moons after Henry, Johnny pursues Cat, and Bella has a thing for Cat's older brother, James, who unexpectedly visits. As romantic intrigue thickens, the novel's plot sticks doggedly to the original. This does McDermid no favors. Though brisk, her prose lacks Austen's zingy insights and tart dialogue. Henry and Cat's conversations about literature feel forced, and incessant references to social media are as glib as the girls' OMGs and WTFs. When Cat finally escapes Edinburgh for the Tilney family pile of the title, she stumbles upon what initially promises to be a gruesome mystery. In other circumstances, this would play to McDermid's strengths. Here, it only adds to the feeling of being trapped in a teen movie. Northanger Abbey is frequently thought of alongside Austen's juvenilia. Too often, this oddly literal reimagining comes off as simply juvenile.

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April 15, 2014
Gold Dagger Awardwinning British crime writer McDermid offers a canny new twist on Jane Austen's early novel. Fans of the original will know that Cat Morland is a book lover eager for her own supernatural adventure. In McDermid's tale, when Cat's neighbors offer to bring her to Edinburgh for a festival, she leaps at the opportunity to spread her wings. There, Cat meets two siblings, John and Bella Thorpe. She and Bella become fast friends despite Bella's occasional shallowness, but Cat can't abide John, who only seems to care about driving fast cars and showing off to try to win Cat's affection. Instead, she prefers mysterious Henry Tilney and his delicate sister Eleanor, who bear striking similarities to the vampires in her favorite books. When the Tilneys invite Cat to stay with them at their ancestral home, Northanger Abbey, she feels chills at the thought of both staying with Henry and uncovering a centuries-old macabre mystery. McDermid's brilliant update of the characters' outlooks, philosophies, and attitudes within a modern context makes this a reimagined delight for Austen fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2014

An interesting premise--crime novelist McDermid exits her comfort zone, taking on Jane Austen--works well, up to a point. Austen's most gothic-toned story is well modernized by McDermid, who demonstrates her fondness for the sometimes foolish heroine in witty asides. The updates are clever and creative as well, but some plot points are difficult to revamp. In this version of the 1817 classic, dreamy, fanciful village girl Cat Morland, a vicar's daughter, is homeschooled and addicted to paranormal fiction books and movies. Her horizons expand when she gets a chance to attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she makes new friends and falls for a young and handsome lawyer, Henry Tilney. When Henry and his family invite her to their family mansion, Northanger Abbey, her imagination races to some interesting conclusions about the Tilneys. Cat and her mates text and Facebook many of their lines, and there's a convenient lack of wifi at a critical moment in the story. But the marriage-mindedness of the teenage characters is harder to believe, and the black-and-white characterization of some heroes and villains is overdone. Still, McDermid's descriptions of scenery and settings are excellent and overall this Austen experiment is a success. VERDICT Fans of McDermid and those who are curious to see what she does with Austen's lesser-known novel will enjoy this book. [See Prepub Alert, 12/1/13.]--Liz French, Library Journal

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2013

Cartier Diamond Dagger winner McDermid puts her gifts to good use in this update of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, which features sheltered young Cat Morland, who's charmed by Henry Tilney when she visits Edinburgh's Fringe Festival.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.