VAL MCDERMID Northanger Abbey. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Northanger Abbey reimagined by Val McDermid is a delight best read in a comfortable chair beside a raging fire on a cold and wet day.
I found this novel satisfying on so many levels that it now sits with my favourite Austen pastiches – Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James, Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd and the film Clueless.
I generally find the reimagining-Austen genre tedious and forced, although many good and established writers have tackled her, and prefer to reread Austen herself every so often. I was underwhelmed by the concept of Joanna Trollope taking on Sense and Sensibility and Alexander McCall Smith reimagining Pride and Prejudice in the Austen Project series. However, I was intrigued by the idea of what Val McDermid might do with Northanger Abbey, the minor work in the Austen canon. I had read one McDermid crime novel (The Wire in the Blood), coming away with a huge respect for the writer but finding her themes confronting. How would she deal with this least loved of the Austen novels?
McDermid gives a fine few opening pages with a lovely homage to the Austen style as she introduces us to her heroine, Cat Morland, soon to be invited to Edinburgh as the guest of her good friends and neighbours the Allens. Seventeen-year-old Cat has been brought up in an isolated setting and has been home-schooled. She is also a huge fan of the Twilight series and the whole vampire genre:
James, blessed with natural wit and intelligence, would have succeeded whatever educational system had been imposed on him. And Cat, who cared more for narrative than knowledge, would probably have done no better whatever she’d been taught. They would certainly have become wiser in the ways of the world if they’d escaped their mother’s apron strings, but had that been the case, their story would be too commonplace to hold much interest for an ardent reader.
In Edinburgh Cat meets Henry Tilney and Bella Thorpe, and later they are joined by her brother James and his friend John Thorpe, Bella’s brother. John falls for Cat, but she is infatuated with Henry. Bella becomes engaged to James. The arrival of Henry’s older brother, Frederick, in Edinburgh becomes the catalyst for the second section of the story when Cat is invited by Eleanor Tilney to stay at the eponymous Northanger Abbey.
Bella gave her a friendly nudge. ‘It’s OK, you can admit it now. My secret was safe with you, but now it’s not a secret any more.’
Her secret had indeed been safe with Cat, who was still at a loss to know what it was she was supposed to know already. ‘I honestly don’t know –’
‘I’ve seen the way you watch us. That knowing little smile of yours, Cat, I swear, you knew even before I knew myself. Obviously you’re so in tune with your lovely brother, you can sense his feelings.’
The introduction of her brother into the conversation allowed a little light to dawn on Cat. ‘You mean, you and James? You’re an item?’
As is well known, Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey as a satire of the Gothic romance novels that were so in vogue at the time. The novel proved to be a boon to scholars because Austen’s references to so many titles led to their rediscovery. In her Northanger Abbey, McDermid takes on the Twilight genre and gently mocks it, while having fun with genre and writers. This is a great read for deconstructionists:
‘I’ve barely touched on what awaits you at Northanger,’ he said, his tones sepulchral. ‘A broken fiddle, a chest that can’t be opened, a grime-streaked portrait whose eyes follow you round the room. And a dribble of unintelligible hints and malevolent stares from Mrs Danvers. And then she’ll tell you about the vampires and the werewolves and the undead who wander the corridors around your room. She’ll point out that there’s no phone signal anywhere in the abbey and then she’ll leave you straining to hear the echo of her receding footsteps, convinced you can hear a strange fluttering in the chimney. And then you’ll discover the door has no lock.’
McDermid shifts the setting from Bath to Edinburgh and places the story in the context of the festival. Cat Moreland’s musings and reflections are strongly reminiscent of Isabel Dalhousie and her friendships, first with Bella and then Ellie, are developed with deftness and a sure authority. McDermid’s dialogue rings true to this reader, as do her characters, who evince the combined feistiness and self-doubt of an Anita Heiss heroine. In fact I found myself thinking that to invite Anita Heiss to tackle one of the two remaining titles in this project would be an imaginative choice for the Austen Project.
McDermid also plays with the Harry Potter novels, paying homage to yet another famous Edinburgh writer. As well, although uncredited, there are many nods to Enid Blyton, particularly the mystery novels with their old houses, secret tunnels and isolated landscapes. Who knew that the Famous Five were gothic? And Cat has more than a little bit of George and Sally within her to draw upon in times of crisis and doubt.
This then is an enjoyable romp through the plot and the characters of Northanger Abbey, updating the themes of the novel to a modern context and yet keeping the style of the original. Val McDermid clearly had a lot of fun writing this story and I had fun reading it.
Val McDermid Northanger Abbey HarperCollins 2014 PB 400pp 29.99
Michael Jongen is a librarian who tweets as @michael_jongen and microblogs at http://larrythelibrarian.tumblr.com
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