Catherine
is very excited when friends of the family invite her to visit Bath with them,
and she is far from disappointed when she makes two friends she really likes,
the affectionate but flighty Isabella, who fancies Catherine’s brother James,
and the gentle, quiet Eleanor Tilney. Isabella and Miss Tilney have the added
advantage of having at least one hot older brother, and John Thorpe and Henry
Tilney are quick to show an interest in Catherine. But while being driven
around in John’s flash new carriage seems fun at first, Catherine much prefers
the intelligent but very amusing Henry, who lives in a real live abbey. If only
Catherine’s imagination wouldn’t keep running away with her…
I’ve been thinking about this blog for months, and as well as writing reviews, I planned to write about books I’d like to see personalised.
Top of my list was Northanger Abbey.
So imagine my excitement when I got the
email saying Northanger Abbey is now
available from BookByYou.
Northanger
Abbey is a very funny book, and although it’s
(quite rightly) in the ClassicBookByYou section, I think teenage readers might
also enjoy it. It starts off with the nineteenth century equivalent of going clubbing,
and then there’s a visit to a gothic castle, which might appeal to the vampire
fans (there aren’t any vampires in this book, but you can always use your
imagination, like Catherine).
Although Jane Austen can be challenging for
younger readers, I had no problems at all with Northanger Abbey when I read it aged fifteen, so I think a lot of
teens would enjoy reading it. At fifteen, I didn’t understand Catherine’s
character very well as I was very naïve and ignorant myself, but I still
enjoyed the book very much, and I really fancied Henry.
Catherine isn’t the sharpest pencil in the
drawer, which leads her into all kinds of trouble, but she’s kind-hearted and
generous, and it’s easy to understand why Henry and Miss Tilney (as Eleanor is
usually called) are so fond of her. Henry is absolutely gorgeous, and much more
approachable than Mr Darcy. He’s clever and witty, but he’s also very kind.
Isabella’s character is great to read about – even when everything is from
Catherine’s point of view, you can pick up on quite a lot of information that
goes right over Catherine’s head (don’t name Isabella after your friend unless
she can take a joke). Miss Tilney isn’t as funny as the other characters, but
she really is a lovely person.
As usual with Jane Austen, there are a few
important unpersonalised characters. John’s first name isn’t personalised, so
don’t call your hero (or the heroine’s brother) John, or you’ll end up even
more confused than Catherine. Henry’s brother Frederick has quite an important
role to play, but the other siblings of the main characters have such small
roles, the only reason for avoiding their names in personalisation is so a
family doesn’t end up with two siblings with the same names. Catherine’s only
named siblings are Sarah/Sally, George and Harriet, and Isabella’s are called
Anne, Maria, Edward and William. But if
you want to call Catherine ‘Maria’ or Isabella ‘Sarah’, that shouldn’t be a
problem at all.
In terms of surnames to avoid, there’s a
Mrs Hughes who plays quite an important role, even though she hardly speaks –
if the Thorpes or the Allens are given the surname ‘Hughes’ that could cause
problems.
So now, I’m hoping for personalised
versions of Mansfield Park and Persuasion. Mansfield Park will be a bit difficult, as there are so many
characters with the same names. Fanny and Maria both share their names with
their mothers, but Fanny’s mother is sometimes Fanny and sometimes Frances.
Mansfield
Park also has a very large cast of characters –
there are Prices, Bertrams, Norrises, Crawfords, Grants, Rushworths and a Yates
who could potentially be personalised. I doubt BookByYou will personalise all
of them, but it will be interesting to see who they choose. I would choose
Fanny Price, Edmund Bertram, Mary Crawford, Henry Crawford and Maria Bertram to
be personalised (which means that other members of their families will get new
surnames). Then you could also personalise Sir Thomas, but then you’d need to
consider whether you also want to personalise his son Tom, who does have quite
a major role to play, but if there is a part in the book where Tom is referred
to as Sir Thomas’s namesake (I can’t remember if there is or not), that’s going
to cause problems unless it’s arranged so they have the same name. And if
they’re all personalised, what about Julia? It will involve a lot of decision
making and tweaking, which is probably going to be a lot of work, but it sounds
like so much fun. Whoever gets that job is very, very lucky.
