Northanger Abbey written by Jane Austen was published in the December of 1817 after she passed away in July. Before Northanger Abbey was “Northanger Abbey,” Austen started writing this piece as “Susan” around the years  1798 and 1799. Unfortunately, she sold her story to a publisher, Crosby, who advertised it in their Flowers of Literature magazine however, it was never published. After confronting Crosby about the “mishap,” she wanted to take Susan to another publisher but had to purchase her manuscript back from Crosby in order to avoid Crosby taking proceedings to stop the sale. Austen would have to have spent ten pounds to purchase the manuscript back (which would be around $306.20 today), and decided to work on some of her other works such as “Elinor and Marianne” (soon to be known as Sense & Sensibility published in 1812). After regaining the manuscript in 1816 and published another novel titled Emma, she renamed Susan as now, Catherine.  However, even after renaming this piece, she still let the manuscript sit to the side as she continued to publish other novels until she passed in 1817. In fact, her brother, Henry Austen, was the publisher and altered the name of the novel to Northanger Abbey. He paired this piece with another one of Austen's novels, Persuasion, and included Henry's "Biographical Notice" in the preface of the novel. 

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age story of a young woman named Catherine Morland. Coming from a rural family, Catherine experiences life in the gentry class as she was invited to stay with the Allen family in Bath. There Catherine learns about the social society and the dynamic between young women and prospective young men as well as tries to unravel some unsettling mysteries that Catherine comes across during her time there. Overall, Catherine is searching for a better understanding of herself and the world around her.

Austen, Jane, and Claire Grogan. “The Novel's History.” Northanger Abbey, Broadview Press, 2004, pp. 8–17.