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Northanger Abbey full cast audiobook

by Jane Austen

Released 13 October 2026 · Updated 13 October 2026 · 7h 43m · 20 voices

The story (no spoilers)

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a clergyman's daughter from a quiet Wiltshire village, travels to Bath with her neighbours the Allens and takes her first step into society. She arrives with an imagination fed on Gothic novels, convinced that mystery, danger and romance wait behind every door. Bath offers her something more ordinary and more tangled: crowded ballrooms, a devoted new friend in the lively Isabella Thorpe, a boastful suitor in Isabella's brother John, and the witty, teasing Henry Tilney, who finds her sincerity charming. When the Tilneys invite her to stay at their family home, Northanger Abbey, Catherine expects cloisters, hidden passages and locked chambers worthy of her favourite books. Between the shadowy corridors she pictures and the people she actually meets lies a gap she cannot yet see. Jane Austen's comic, sharp-eyed story asks what happens when a girl who reads life as fiction must learn to read it as it is, in love, friendship and judgment alike.

The cast

17 speaking roles are listed; walk-on parts are not. Each voice was designed, or chosen from our library of designed voices, to fit how the book describes the character, and it stays with them from the first chapter to the last. Portraits are illustrated impressions of each character.

Catherine Morland
Female, about sixteen years old, a country clergyman's daughter visiting Bath in 1798, middle-class, affectionate and open-hearted. She speaks with a soft southern English accent, gentle and polite. She speaks earnestly and politely, eager and cheerful, dropping to a shy whisper when embarrassed.
Henry Tilney
Male, about twenty-six years old, an English country clergyman in Regency England in 1800, of the comfortable gentry. He has a refined received pronunciation accent and a light, clear, bright baritone from a slim build. He speaks fluently and fairly quickly with playful, mock-formal polish, ironic, observant, warm and quietly amused.
Isabella
Female, about twenty-one years old, an English fashionable woman in Bath in 1800, of the genteel middle class and fond of novels and gossip. She has a clear fashionable London accent, a high, bright, silvery soprano, and speaks in rapid, gushing, exclamatory bursts. Effusive, flattering, sociable and eager to be admired.
John Thorpe
Male, about twenty-four years old, an English university man and sporting gentleman in Bath in 1800, of the comfortable middle class. He has a loud, brash, slangy London-tinged accent, a rough, hoarse, heavy baritone from a stocky build, and speaks abruptly and carelessly in short, booming phrases. Boastful, vain and cheerfully rude.
Eleanor Tilney
Female, about twenty-three years old, an English gentlewoman in Regency England in 1800, from a wealthy upper-class family. She has a refined, soft received pronunciation accent, a low, gentle, smooth mezzo with an elegant bearing, and speaks slowly and quietly in short polite phrases. Gentle, agreeable, composed and kind.
Mrs. Allen
Female, about fifty years old, a comfortable, wealthy country landowner's wife from Wiltshire visiting Bath in 1800, of the gentry. She has a soft Wiltshire gentry accent, a light, thin, fluttery soprano, and speaks in a chatty, rambling, repetitive manner with vague trailing phrases. Good-humoured, dreamy, preoccupied with dress.
General Tilney
Male, about fifty-five years old, a retired English army general and wealthy landowner in Regency England in 1800, of the upper class. He has a clipped, commanding received pronunciation accent, a deep, resonant, firm bass-baritone from a broad, upright build, and speaks briskly in crisp, authoritative phrases. Consequential, gallant, exacting and impatient.
James Morland
Male, about twenty-two years old, an English university student and clergyman's son in Regency England in 1800, of the middle class. He has a mild educated southern English accent with a trace of the country, a light, warm, earnest tenor, and speaks at an even, steady, open pace. Good-natured, trusting and affectionate.
Mrs. Morland
Female, about forty-two years old, a country clergyman's wife and mother of a large family in rural Wiltshire in 1800, of the modest middle class. She has a plain rural West Country accent, a low, warm, steady alto, and speaks slowly and calmly in homely, matter-of-fact phrases. Practical, kindly and unfussed.
Mrs. Thorpe
Female, about forty-six years old, an English widow of the genteel middle class living in Bath in 1800, proud of her children. She has a brassy London middle-class accent, a full, strong, slightly nasal mezzo, and speaks fast and loudly in fond, gushing, exclamatory runs. Warm, boastful, sociable and doting.
Mr. Allen
Male, about fifty-five years old, a gentleman landowner from Wiltshire with a gouty constitution, taking the waters in Bath in 1800, of the gentry. He has a gentle educated Wiltshire accent, a dry, reedy, slightly wheezy tenor, and speaks slowly and mildly with pauses. Sensible, cautious, calm and quietly dry.
Captain Tilney
Male, about twenty-eight years old, a fashionable English army officer in Bath in 1800, from a wealthy upper-class family. He has a languid upper-class drawl in received pronunciation, a low, smooth, easy baritone, and speaks slowly with lazy, teasing ease. Charming, idle, self-assured and lightly amused.
Anne Mitchell
Female, about nineteen years old, an English gentlewoman's daughter in Bath in 1800, of the middle class. She has a prim, clipped, slightly nasal Home Counties accent, a thin, flat mid-high voice, and speaks at a measured, dismissive pace. Haughty, self-possessed and pretending indifference.
Sarah
Female, about sixteen years old, a country clergyman's daughter from a Wiltshire village in Regency England, middle-class and her sister's confidante. She speaks with a brisk rural Wiltshire accent. She speaks quickly and lively, exclaiming with warm ardour.
Mrs. Hughes
Female, about forty-eight years old, a respectable English matron of the gentry in Bath in 1800. She has a refined, careful received pronunciation accent, a soft, light, courteous alto, and speaks quietly at a moderate pace with apologetic politeness. Mannerly, deferential and gently obliging.
Mr. Morland
Male, about forty-six years old, a country clergyman in rural Wiltshire in 1800, of the modest middle class. He has a mild rural West Country accent, a warm, mid-pitched, slightly rough baritone, and speaks slowly and steadily with plain, thoughtful phrasing. Sensible, kindly and plain-spoken.
Maria
Female, about eighteen years old, an English tradesman-class gentlewoman's daughter in Bath in 1800, of the middle class. She has a lilting Hampshire accent, a slightly husky, breathy, warm mezzo, and speaks fast in rushing, chatty bursts. Enthusiastic, cheerful and talkative.

About this recording

Narrator: Vera Wynn, our house narrator voice
Runtime: 7h 43m (complete and unabridged)
Voices: 20
Channel: Best Free Audiobooks on YouTube
Released: 13 October 2026
Updated: 13 October 2026
Author: Jane Austen
First published: 1818
Kind: coming-of-age novel
Source edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #121
Public domain (US): Northanger Abbey (1817) by Jane Austen is in the public domain in the United States; text from Project Gutenberg.