BACK TO NORTHANGER ABBEY: A CONVERSATION WITH NANCY BILYEAU

What happened to Catherine Morland after Northanger Abbey ended? Jane Austen left us with a young woman who had discovered that life—and people—could be rather more complicated than the Gothic novels she loved. But what might Catherine's life look like twenty-two years later?

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Nancy Bilyeau to My Jane Austen Book Club to talk about her new novel, The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, which brings Catherine back to us as Catherine Tilney, now a wife and mother facing a new generation of family challenges, mysteries, and perhaps a little Gothic danger along the way.

In our conversation, Nancy tells us what inspired her to return to Austen's beloved heroine, how she approached Catherine's character as an adult, and how she balanced the Gothic atmosphere of Northanger Abbey with her own story. She also shares her thoughts on Catherine's relationship with her daughter Phoebe, historical authenticity, and what she hopes readers will feel when they reach the final page.

So, dear readers, let's return to Northanger Abbey—and welcome Nancy Bilyeau! 📚 

Maria Grazia💕

 

·  What inspired you to return to Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and imagine Catherine Morland's life twenty-two years after the events of the original novel?

 

It’s an unusual origin story. The idea came from a group project led by Kris Waldherr, an author and artist and head of Muse Publications. Her project was called Once Upon a Gothic, and I was asked if I wanted to join the group. I would have to pitch a classic Gothic novel to interpret in a new book: a sequel, prequel, or retelling. I chose Northanger Abbey as a tribute to my devotion to Jane Austen's work and wrote a sequel. The collection was sold on Kickstarter in a special print format in 2025. Then the rights were returned to the authors. I loved writing The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, and I wanted to go deeper. I wrote a new chapter and expanded the novel throughout, with an Author’s Note. I wanted to make the novel available to a larger audience: For the first time, people can find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Apple, and Kobo. It’s on NetGalley and Goodreads.

I wrote a sequel set twenty-two years later because I liked Catherine Morland tremendously and I was curious about her possible future. She is seventeen years old in Northanger Abbey: a curious, kind, excitable, and honest young woman. I wondered what adult life would be like for her, married as a teenager to a kind man who loves her, but one with a family that could present challenges.

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 ·  Catherine is now Catherine Tilney, a wife and mother. How has she changed since we first met her as a young woman—and what aspects of the Catherine we know and love remain?

 I thought about this for a long time. I gathered the characteristics and personality traits of Catherine Morland that Jane Austen wrote about: curious, kind, excitable, fun-loving, and honest. I thought those traits would still be there, but she would also embrace her responsibilities as a rector's wife and help the people of Woodston. She had her mother as a role model. In this part of her life, she’d feel confident. I think her natural warmth and honesty, not to mention her energy, would make her an excellent mother. But General Tilney’s treatment of her in Northanger Abbey would not be completely forgotten. And I think in certain subtle ways, the rest of the Tilneys might see Catherine as the innocent girl from the country, and she would be treated with affection but some condescension too.

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 ·  The novel brings Catherine face to face with the Thorpe family once again, this time through her daughter Phoebe. What interested you about exploring the relationship between a mother and daughter who may not always see the world in the same way?

I wanted to show a generational split, but it was important to me to be faithful to the period and not impose modern thinking on early 19th-century women! I thought about the life of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, written during that fateful summer at Lord Byron’s Swiss villa in 1816. Her existence was so different than Jane Austen’s. Other free-spirited radicals existed at the time—Byron and Shelley, yes, but also the poet Coleridge, who was an abolitionist. I think it’s possible that these early Romantics would be an inspiration to young women of that time who were intelligent and well educated. It wasn’t until well into the Victorian era that women were so extremely sheltered. Phoebe Tilney would be excited about following her interests and passions in life. And Catherine would want her daughter to have the happiest life possible, but she’d worry about the cost of picking an unusual path.

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·  Gothic fiction is at the heart of Northanger Abbey, and your novel brings Catherine into another potentially Gothic situation, with an isolated manor, family secrets, dangerous passions, and a charming aristocratic neighbour. How did you approach balancing the Gothic atmosphere with Austen's wit and social observation?

 It was a balancing act, no question! I tried to weave in the Gothic just a little in the first few chapters. Northanger Abbey itself has Gothic potential, but I made the decision early on not to confine my novel to that house. I took it a little further in Bath, creating an atmosphere of people who were not physically well, yet still plunged into entertainments. The ball at the Upper Assembly has a Gothic undertone. Then, in the two chapters in Woodston, I brought in the Gothic possibilities of St. Joseph’s Eve, with a bonfire, the forest at night, and the predictions of a local “cunning woman.” But I turned up the Gothic several more notches in the second half of the novel, set in Dartmoor, and I pretty much kept it dialed up. I actually used an outline and charted a careful progression of Gothic moments. It goes up and up and up, but I never wanted Jane’s witty society to be too dominated by eeriness. I worked hard at this balance.

 ·  Catherine once struggled to distinguish between Gothic fiction and reality. In The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, she must once again question her own perceptions. How does the passage of time—and her experience as a wife and mother—affect the way she responds to mystery and danger?

 Catherine loves her family with every bit of her heart and soul. And she may not be highly educated, but she is intelligent, with the common sense that maturity has brought. She will not let anyone hurt her daughter, Phoebe, or anyone else she cares about. That determination helps her overcome her fears. She has true grit in the novel.

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 ·  You have written richly researched historical fiction set in very different periods, from Tudor England to eighteenth-century France and Jazz Age New York. What drew you to the world of Jane Austen and Regency England for this novel?

 I’ve always loved Jane Austen and her world. I cry when I watch the adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. I felt a little intimidated when I thought about writing a book set in the Regency. But once I picked my year—1820—and decided this wasn’t going to be a Bridgerton-like world alone, that my young woman would want more for her life than a coming-out season, and then I created all my characters and settings, it came together in a way that was actually very fulfilling. I love writing The Heiress of Northanger Abbey.

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 ·  What do you hope readers—especially those who love Northanger Abbey—will feel when they close The Heiress of Northanger Abbey?

I want readers to celebrate Catherine's journey. She has a distinct arc. She overcomes obstacles and learns to truly believe in herself. I really love Catherine Tilney, and I hope that comes through on the page and gives readers a warm feeling.

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This video was created with the assistance of AI; some visual details may not perfectly reflect the historical period.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Bilyeau loves crafting immersive historical stories, whether it's Jazz Age New York City in "The Orchid Hour," the 18th-century Gothic manors, salons, and porcelain workshops in "The Versailles Formula," or Henry VIII's tumultuous England in "The Crown."

Her new novel is "The Heiress of Northanger Abbey," a sequel to the Jane Austen classic.

A magazine editor who has worked on the staffs of "Rolling Stone," "Good Housekeeping," and "Entertainment Weekly," Nancy draws on her journalism experience to research her books.

For her Genevieve Planche novels--"The Blue", "The Fugitive Colours", and "The Versailles Formula"--she also draws on her heritage to create a Huguenot heroine. Nancy is a descendant of Pierre Billiou, a French Huguenot who immigrated to what was then New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1661. Pierre's stone house still stands and is the third oldest house in New York State.

Nancy lives with her family in upstate New York and enjoys reading, gardening, cooking, and touring historic houses in the Hudson Valley.

Visit Nancy's website at www.nancybilyeau.com