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A review by wendyh65
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
5.0
Catherine Morland (Cat to her friends) is a young middle-class girl, the home-schooled daughter of a vicar and an ex-school teacher, waiting for life to happen. Only, nothing ever happens in Piddle Valley, Dorset. Until her neighbours, the wealthy Allens, invite her to the Edinburgh Festival to keep Susie company while Mr Allen works his highly-successful London's West End theatrical-seeking business there.
And then life starts to happen rather quickly. Susie runs into an old school friend Martha - who's daughter Bella claims to be a good friend of Cat's older brother Jamie (James to his family). It's a very small world, you know. And her son John quickly takes a liking to Cat, much to Cat's dismay as he's quite a bore.
Meanwhile Cat meets the delicious Henry at a Scottish Country Dancing lesson, taken to prepare herself for one of the dances she'll be attending with Susie, and can't stop thinking about him. Only John dislikes Henry and does his best to put her off.
Sounds familiar? If you've read the original Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, it might. This book is part of the "Austen Project", a modern realisation of the classic novels. I've not read any, but I've seen plenty of film and tv productions of them to recognise some of the quaint language and settings in this book.
Despite the occasional 'quaintness' in the language and settings, which while a bit different to what you might expect in a modern romance novel fits perfectly in this story, this is a lovely book that I enjoyed immensely. I have no hesitation in recommending it.
By the way, if you're expecting a 'normal' Val McDermid book based on thrills and murder mystery, you'll be greatly disappointed as there is none of that. But read it anyway, you'll enjoy it too, I expect.
And then life starts to happen rather quickly. Susie runs into an old school friend Martha - who's daughter Bella claims to be a good friend of Cat's older brother Jamie (James to his family). It's a very small world, you know. And her son John quickly takes a liking to Cat, much to Cat's dismay as he's quite a bore.
Meanwhile Cat meets the delicious Henry at a Scottish Country Dancing lesson, taken to prepare herself for one of the dances she'll be attending with Susie, and can't stop thinking about him. Only John dislikes Henry and does his best to put her off.
Sounds familiar? If you've read the original Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, it might. This book is part of the "Austen Project", a modern realisation of the classic novels. I've not read any, but I've seen plenty of film and tv productions of them to recognise some of the quaint language and settings in this book.
Despite the occasional 'quaintness' in the language and settings, which while a bit different to what you might expect in a modern romance novel fits perfectly in this story, this is a lovely book that I enjoyed immensely. I have no hesitation in recommending it.
By the way, if you're expecting a 'normal' Val McDermid book based on thrills and murder mystery, you'll be greatly disappointed as there is none of that. But read it anyway, you'll enjoy it too, I expect.