Jane Austen was born in 1775 at Stevenson in Hampshire, the seventh of eight children. Her career began at the age of fifteen with her first work, Love and Friendship. Known primarily as a writer of romance, Austen's mastery of the art of narration, sharp wit and scathing social commentary led to her becoming, after her death, one of the best known English novelists in history.
The first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed, Northanger Abbey was not published until after the author's death in 1818. A parody of Gothic fiction, the novel revolves around Catherine Morland and her friendship with the Tilney siblings which leads her to Northanger Abbey, a place that comes to represent, for her, mystery, disillusion ment and love.
