Posted by Guest Reviewer

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the-heiress-of-northanger-abbey-by-nancy-bilyeau/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=175425

This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviewed at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at _@‌thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next good freelance job.

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The Heiress of Northanger Abbey is a terribly wonderful little continuation of Northanger Abbey. Throwing itself full-heartedly into the lives of Catherine and Henry years after their first encounter, it shows us a Catherine determined to regain her sense of adventure while dealing with motherly worries, while Henry tries to keep up. Readers should expect Catherine to remain her dramatic self — which might grate upon a reader’s nerves – and Henry to be at his eternally-logical and reasoned best.

We open with Catherine – who has been a Tilney for some time now. It is 1820, and Henry has become the rector of Woodston; they’ve raised their family happily together in a cottage. In the twenty years that have passed, Eleanor has become the Viscountess Granville, and Frederick Tilney has married Aurelia. At a family dinner held at Northanger Abbey, Catherine reads a letter her spirited eldest daughter, Phoebe, sent to Henry and suddenly Catherine’s merry, calm world tips off its axis.

Phoebe, it seems, has been introduced to the Thorpe family while on a long-dreamed-of tour of the continent, horrifying Catherine, who naturally cannot forget her past with John and Isabella. When Catherine has a vision of her daughter being manipulated into a romance by her former rivals, Henry and Catherine head off to Bath to intercept their child.
Catherine learns just before they’re set to go that Aurelia wishes for Phoebe to be named the heiress of Northanger Abbey. That will make her rich beyond her years and experience – and make her subject to a curse that still leaves Catherine trembling. It will also leave her prone to fortune hunters of all sorts, the kind of sharps who would gladly suck a sweet-natured girl like Phoebe dry.

Catherine is driven by a fear of both of those things when she goes searching for her daughter out in Bath, smelling a rat but hoping she’s mistaken. When they connect with Phoebe again, she has become friends with Isabella’s daughter, Charlotte, and begun a gentle flirtation with her son, Sam. While Catherine tries to protect Phoebe from Isabella, it seems death, mystery and romance stalk Phoebe — leaving Catherine to wonder how much of it is all in her head.

So many bits of The Heiress of Northanger Abbey sing out loud. Catherine has a wonderfully dramatic point of view, and her love of Henry shines through with her every action. If you loved their romance in the original book you’ll enjoy seeing it in a ripened, more mature form; they work together in partnership, with Henry being the more calmly cautious of the two.

Catherine has managed to become a fine rector’s wife, but both she and Henry know she’s traded in part of her romantic, adventurous being to become this staid figure in the public sphere. Her quirks are also delightful. I was entirely amused by her being horrified by Phoebe’s desire for a bohemian life, trying to direct her away from free love and to more staid examples.

The way the book wove in contemporary-to-Catherine scandals about Byron and Shelley was a terrible lot of fun, and I loved her deep adoration of trashy gothic novels — and how they continue to form her. It even provides a door for Isabella to reenter her life, though I will not reveal how that goes. Catherine is one of the best “reading” heroines of all time, and it’s wonderful and fitting that she still loves a good yarn.

Naturally, the book settles into a vampiric theme: John Polidori and his vampyres float in the background as romance and danger set in. But another man – Lord Pomeroy – sparks Catherine’s worst suspicions about Isabella, and he is seductive, in turns both wicked and smooth. Soon enough – much to the delight of this reader – Catherine’s spying and crawling through the climbs of Isabella’s home, overhearing snippets of conversations which might mean doom for Phoebe’s newfound friendships. In spite of her aching bones and forty-year-old limbs, she manages to acquaint herself with the drama and passion of life.

Phoebe is a delightful character: stubborn, alive and living, dreaming of a wider world that’s not incredibly stifled by social politeness. And it’s nice to see all of the other living characters from Northanger Abbey, no matter how briefly.

Catherine does have a real mystery to solve here, and the stakes are pretty high. One cannot entirely predict the ending: we have a feeling for who the bad actors are, but we have no idea how and why they have aligned themselves until all is revealed in a sickening rush. There’s vindication for our beloved heroine afoot, though I naturally will not reveal the particulars.

My only real criticism of the book is that I would’ve liked a little bit more of John; he barely appears in the story before vanishing into the mists of the narrative, leaving Isabella in charge and an interesting divot where he could have done something more as a character. I was also annoyed that a pivotal character was introduced so deep into the story, but once I met him I couldn’t be TOO furious.

I’ve never found Catherine’s melodrama irritating, though others have poo poo’d it. A lot of my enjoyment of this book hung upon Catherine, and I loved spending hours with her again. Between these pages, both she and her daughter bloom. I hope for a sequel featuring her tart-tongued youngest, Susan. The Heiress of Northanger Abbey is a perfect fall read, filled with romantic plots, horrifying villains and a shockingly passionate but twisted plot that will leave the reader gasping. Go gothic this fall and enjoy every single page of it.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the-heiress-of-northanger-abbey-by-nancy-bilyeau/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=175425