Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey Jane Austen

At 17, after a childhood and adolescence spent in the Fullerton presbytery to play cricket with her many brothers or to travel the English countryside on horseback, young and naive Catherine Morland began to take an interest in the toilet and became aware That her left pace and angular silhouette have given way to a much more feminine and more attractive appearance. It is then that she is invited by neighbors of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, to stay with them for a few weeks in Bath, a chic spa town, very popular with good English society. Arriving in Bath, Catherine meets a witty young man, Henry Tilney, presented by Mr King, master of ceremonies of the Lower Rooms of Bath. Later in the novel she meets Eleanor, Henry's young sister, a beautiful and elegant girl, a little reserved, but very affectionate. It is also at the Assembly Rooms that she meets Isabella Thorpe33, a charming and knowledgeable girl of the world, as well as her brother John, very imbued with his person, but who turns out to be a friend of James Morland, one Of Catherine's brothers. In addition to his boasting, John Thorpe soon revealed an unfortunate propensity for the most shameless lies he used to persuade Catherine to accompany him in his gig on an excursion to Blaize Castle (chapter XI). After the piteous conclusion of this abortive excursion, Catherine responded eagerly to Eleanor and Henry's proposal to join them for a walk to Beechen Cliff, the shady green hill just south of Bath, The other side of the Avon that it overlooks.