Few people realize that Jane Austen invented the horror spoof in 1818 with her first completed novel 'Northanger Abbey.' The story's heroine is a Gothic novel-obsessed young woman who sees intrigue and mystery everywhere.

Visiting Bath with her friend Mrs. Allen, an older but flighty, irresponsible woman, Catherine Morland falls in love with Henry Tilney, a young clergyman. Believing her to be wealthy, Henry's father invites Catherine to Northanger Abbey, the Tilney home. Greatly influenced by her reading of Mrs. Radcliffe's novel Mysteries of Udolpho, Catherine sees Nightmare Abbey as a house of nightmarish mysteries.

But is it just her imagination or is there something more sinister lurking in the ancient cloisters?

The novel gives Austen an opportunity to satirize the Radcliffe school of Romantic mystery and to explore a favorite theme of feminine self-delusion.