Jane Austen had a healthy contempt for the sensational romance novels in vogue at her time, and Northanger Abbey represents a gentle dig at the genre. It is, in it's own right however, a very funny novel which brings out the sillier implications of sensationalism in the mind of a young woman. If you get the chance, read anything by Mrs Radcliffe e.g. Udolpho or Romance of the Forest, and then go back and reread Northanger Abbey. You will enjoy the the subtlety of Jane's art all the more!

We had occasion to go to a Ball (!) at Newstead Abbey, where scenes from the novel were enacted during the evening, to the considerable enjoyment of those present.