Linda Ulleseit

I first encountered Nancy Bilyeau’s novels when I read The Orchid Hour in 2023. Read my review of that one here. Nancy Bilyeau’s newest novel, The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, comes out September 1. It is a sequel to Jane Austen’s novel, set in Gloucestershire in 1820, twenty-two years after the abbey closes.

Catherine Tilney seems to be living a happily ever after. But her busy life as a clergyman’s wife is shattered by a letter that resurrects her darkest fears. Her daughter Phoebe has fallen under the influence of the unscrupulous Thorpe family—the very figures who once nearly destroyed Catherine’s happiness.

Determined to protect her child from dangerous fortune hunters, Catherine follows Phoebe to an isolated manor on Dartmoor. There, she finds a landscape of reckless passions, family secrets, and a dangerously charming aristocratic neighbor. It all feels eerily like the plot of the latest Gothic sensation, The Vampyre — but is Catherine once again letting her imagination run wild?

The Heiress of Northanger Abbey is a gripping story of strong women managing love, marriage, and money. Even though I have never read the Jane Austen novel, I enjoyed the tale of Catherine (Morland) Tilney and her daughter, Phoebe. This novel is a testament to strong women overcoming their darkest fears. Catherine comes to question the strength of her marriage even as a one-time friend, Isabella Harrowden, returns to her life with dubious intent. Phoebe befriends Charlotte, Isabella’s daughter, who is part of her mother’s plot against the Tilneys. Phoebe Tilney is faced with the expectations of her mother as well as her aunt, who owns Northanger Abbey with her husband. Aunt Aurelia wants Phoebe to debut in London, marry well, and inherit the abbey. Phoebe initially wants nothing to do with her aunt’s plans. The novel follows Catherine and Phoebe, and Isabella and her daughter Charlotte, as they grow and change. 

Each of the four women, Catherine, Phoebe, Isabella, and Charlotte, are unique and superbly developed as characters. The setting of the abbey and the moors lends itself well to Gothic plots. The Heiress of Northanger Abbey is a story that will take hold of your heart.