Northanger Abbey

By: Jane Austen

Narrated by: Nancy Dow

Northanger Abbey certainly contains some elements of 18th century Gothic “potboilers” but with a satiric slant. It has the overbearing father who was “not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters”, although her mother does not die giving birth to her, and the “heroine”, Catherine Morland, prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes like watering rose bushes or feeding canaries.

The book is a hilarious parody and certainly the most lighthearted of Austen's novels, yet it still manages to be an unsentimental commentary on love and marriage. Austen fans will enjoy the decidedly satirical twist this book takes, a twist that only Austen's genius could pull off.

Public Domain (P)2010 Jimcin Recordings

Poor Recording Quality

This is my favorite Jane Austen novel. The reader does an acceptable job reading the work, but I found the poor recording quality and low volume level to greatly take away from my enjoyment of the piece.

terrible quality narration

The narrator's voice is good the the quality is terrible. I couldn't finish it. Sounds like she is in an echo chamber - more than you can take so I can't review whole book for you because... I couldn't take it.

Amazing story! The sound quality though

Love the story and laugh out loud multiple times, but the difficulty in understanding the narrator made the experience much worse.

I HEAR YA

I GOT THROUGH THE FIRST COUPLE OF SENTENCES ON THIS BOOK. THE SOUND SYSTEM OR STUDIO SOUNDS LIKE IT IS IN THE BASEMENT OF A SUBWAY. JUST TERRIBLE. I AM SORRY I SPENT THE MONEY ON THIS ONE.

Flawed but Good

Loved the book but...for audio perfectionists this may not be for you. The copyright says 1980 and the sound has some background noise common to recordings in those days. And....while I don't agree with the reviewer who "shouted" about it. ( all caps is considered shouting ) it does have a slightly hollow sound. However, in spite of the less-than-perfect sound quality, we ( my wife and I ) loved it! For one thing we I prefer American readers because for us, as Americans, British accents tend to get in the way of understanding.
And..most importantly...the reader was very good...seeming to "read with a smile." Over the years we have heard two other recordings of this book and the readers were just so very serious. This was Jane Austen's most light-hearted book and this readers voice matched the text perfectly. So our advice...listen to the sample first. If you don't mind the "old days" audio and you are an Austen fan, you'll love this reading.