Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey
Val McDermid

Jane Austen in the hands of queen of crime, Val McDermid. Get ready for a very different Northanger Abbey.Seventeen-year-old Catherine ‘Cat’ Morland has led a sheltered existence in rural Dorset, a life entirely bereft of the romance and excitement for which she yearns. So when Cat’s wealthy neighbours, the Allens, invite her to Edinburgh Festival, she is sure adventure beckons.Edinburgh initially offers no such thrills: Susie Allen is obsessed by shopping, Andrew Allen by the Fringe. A Highland Dance class, though, brings Cat a new acquaintance: Henry Tilney, a pale, dark-eyed gentleman whose family home, Northanger Abbey, sounds perfectly thrilling. And an introduction to Bella Thorpe, who shares her passion for supernatural novels, provides Cat with a like-minded friend. But with Bella comes her brother John, an obnoxious banker whose vulgar behaviour seems designed to thwart Cat’s growing fondness for Henry.Happily, rescue is at hand. The rigidly formal General Tilney invites her to stay at Northanger with son Henry and daughter Eleanor. Cat’s imagination runs riot: an ancient abbey, crumbling turrets, secret chambers, ghosts…and Henry! What could be more deliciously romantic?But Cat gets far more than she bargained for in this isolated corner of the Scottish Borders. The real world outside the pages of a novel proves to be altogether more disturbing than the imagined world within…

Copyright (#ulink_f7accdb2-70d0-5339-b4df-96ba9566c320)

The Borough Press

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014

Copyright © Val McDermid 2014

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014

Cover photographs © Sandra Cunningham/Arcangel Images (grass); Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com) (all other images)

Val McDermid asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN 9780007504299

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007504282

Version 2014-08-09

Dedication (#ulink_719055c3-6b99-5e50-bf61-e8e6f42dbac0)

To Joanna Steven, constant reader, constant friend, who is indirectly responsible for introducing me to the delights of the Piddle Valley.

Table of Contents

Cover (#u1cf0a7d9-d61b-5bb5-a8d3-f709522522b0)

Title Page (#u19861a30-558d-5601-b05d-7a321297f469)

Copyright (#uc1dd70f9-2025-5141-8c84-13c94da61d97)

Dedication (#uae1925a1-26a4-58e7-9011-bb518bb21c5f)

Chapter 1 (#u7d0f3b85-2761-5d4d-90d2-289d7f8950d0)

Chapter 2 (#uc7af7480-047c-5845-a5bf-fb4fcef6abf7)

Chapter 3 (#ubcbab540-a844-56b6-9d59-b3b159fc58dc)

Chapter 4 (#u42269263-f326-56ea-a18b-5e11e149ad5a)

Chapter 5 (#u715e1bee-b3a9-5302-adbb-aaf09f6043b9)

Chapter 6 (#u9165fc31-dd67-53d8-a3bc-1deebafa6482)

Chapter 7 (#u056d61db-433d-5d09-affb-c6e6dbefa4bf)

Chapter 8 (#u1e3eaafb-62ca-552e-8a0c-baedd397ca74)

Chapter 9 (#ub5a136db-02b8-5861-9481-b48c23f4f5c4)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)