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Guest Review: THE HEIRESS OF NORTHANGER ABBEY by Nancy Bilyeau
ABOUT THE BOOK
From the bestselling author of The Blue comes this sequel to Jane Austen’s beloved coming-of-age story with a Gothic twist. “A thrilling mystery for everyone who wishes the Abbey really did have deep, gothic secrets–including some more dangerous than Catherine Morland ever dreamed! —Claudia Gray, NY Times bestselling author of "The Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney" series.
Gloucestershire, 1820: Catherine Tilney is living a happily-ever-after twenty-two years later. But her busy life as a clergyman’s wife is shattered by a letter that resurrects her darkest fears. Her daughter Phoebe has fallen under the influence of the unscrupulous Thorpe family—the very figures who once nearly destroyed Catherine’s happiness. Determined to protect her child from dangerous fortune hunters, Catherine follows Phoebe to an isolated manor on Dartmoor. There, she finds a landscape of reckless passions, family secrets, and a dangerously charming aristocratic neighbor. It all feels eerily like the plot of the latest Gothic sensation, The Vampyre—but is Catherine once again letting her imagination run wild? The Heiress of Northanger Abbey is a story of mothers and daughters, deception and desire—and of a woman who must learn to trust her power of perception before it’s too late.
OPENING LINES
No one who knew me at seventeen, fresh from my parents’ house in the country and wholly unacquainted with society manners, would have thought I was destined to preside at the top of the table of Northanger Abbey.
GUEST REVIEW by Sophia Rose
Twenty years after the ending of Jane Austen’s gentle satire about gothic novels, the characters of Northanger Abbey are again plunged into adventure. After penning several well-crafted historical mysteries, Nancy Bilyeau has turned her talents to an Austen sequel full of gothic deliciousness.
In The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, the sole narrator is a middle-aged Catherine Tilney, nee Morland, who has enjoyed a comfortable and happy marriage with her husband, Mr. Henry Tilney, mothering her two bright daughters and serving as the vicar’s wife at Woodston. But when she enters the doors of Northanger Abbey and visits with her Tilney relations, she secretly feels inadequate and still that young, ignorant girl beside elegant Eleanor, a viscountess, and confident Aurelia, Frederick’s wife and lady of the manor. The general has passed on, and Frederick and his rich wife, Aurelia, have the abbey, but are childless. They are considering Catherine’s eldest, Phoebe—along with Eleanor’s son—for their heir. The older Tilneys take Phoebe with them to Bath for the social season while they take the waters. There, she encounters the Thorpe family and writes to her parents about it.
Is history repeating itself? Catherine is convinced the Thorpes, both brother and sister, and their offspring can’t have changed much, though settled and married, and worries for Phoebe even when Henry and everyone else tell her she’s being dramatic. Catherine goes to her daughter in Bath, and in the others' presence, she gets an even stronger sense that something is off, despite the smiles and friendly overtures. An invitation to Isabella’s husband’s estate on the brooding Devonshire moors and the young girl’s fixation for horrid tales can only bring disaster, Catherine fears, but how can she prevent it?
Though young Phoebe is facing adulthood and the question of whether she wants the traditional life of an heiress-debutante or to forge a less conventional path, like her female heroines Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, this is very much Catherine’s story. Is her imagination getting the better of her as it did once before, or is she the only one seeing other people clearly? She is fearful and disheartened that no one supports her, not even her husband or spirited daughter, but I loved seeing her find her agency even in daunting situations.
The historical detail and atmospheric notes were sensational. Both mother and daughter were layered and vivid personalities, so different and sometimes at odds, but still connected by something more. I was emotionally invested in Catherine and her efforts to do right by her daughter, to engage with her own midlife crisis as she decided what was true about her marriage and life, and to see whether someone was manipulating her. (That was a nice psychological touch I wasn’t suspecting.)
All in all, this savory sequel won my heart, connecting seamlessly with Jane Austen’s work and presenting a fresh, original tale that complements the classic. Old-style gothic suspense fans and Austenesque lovers can confidently take up The Heiress of Northanger Abbey.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nancy Bilyeau loves crafting immersive historical stories, whether it's Jazz Age New York City in The Orchid Hour, the 18th-century Gothic manors, salons, and porcelain workshops in The Versailles Formula, or Henry VIII's tumultuous England in The Crown. Her new novel is The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, a sequel to the Jane Austen classic. A magazine editor who has worked on the staffs of Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, and Entertainment Weekly, Nancy draws on her journalism experience to research her books. For her Genevieve Planche novels—The Blue, The Fugitive Colours, and The Versailles Formula—she also draws on her heritage to create a Huguenot heroine. Nancy is a descendant of Pierre Billiou, a French Huguenot who immigrated to what was then New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1661. Pierre's stone house still stands and is the third-oldest house in New York State. Nancy lives with her family in upstate New York and enjoys reading, gardening, cooking, and touring historic houses in the Hudson Valley. Visit Nancy's website.
ABOUT GUEST REVIEWER Sophia Rose
Sophia is a quiet, curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, playing the piano, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants, and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and a loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, baseball, cats, Scooby Doo, and chocolate. As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. In 2012, she submitted her first book review and is currently an associate reviewer.
Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener, which allows her to experience many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction, particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Sorry, no horror...or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby. Connect with Sophia via FACEBOOK GOODREADS TWITTER
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