Northanger Abbey

"No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her..."
These are the opening lines to one of the sweetest, dearest books I have read--perhaps the most light-hearted of Jane Austen novels, Northanger Abbey.

This is the story of an overimaginative young girl's first trip away from home with a fashionable "society family." Catherine is introduced to many new acquaintances, but she particularly befriends the kindhearted Henry Tilney and his sweet sister Eleanor. When the Tilneys invite Catherine to stay for a while at their home, a large manor called Northanger Abbey, the girl's love for mystery stories and Gothic horror novels begins to overtake her imagination. She begins to hope that she will uncover a dreadful secret, that the manor will be haunted...Catherine allows her imagination to convince her that her hopes and suspicions are reality, even causing herself to believe that a murder has taken place. The impressionable girl soon learns how harmful such suspicion can be to her dearest friends. Will Mr. Tilney and his family ever forgive her for her dreadful mistake?

Northanger Abbey is decidedly the perfect book to read on a stormy night! And if you're feeling especially daring, read it by candlelight...Sweet dreams:)