“All the smartest people pick Northanger Abbey as the best”
Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club, talks about her love for Jane and her favorite novels in The Age.
“I love Austen because her voice is so intimate in a way. It’s an amazing tightrope act that she does. She manages to make you feel like you’re right there with her and yet when you put the book down you know nothing about her, none of her opinions.
“It’s an extremely distanced and yet intimate voice.”
She is hard pressed to pick a favourite Austen novel. “I truly love them all,” she says fervently. “My favourites rotate between Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion.
“Although it has become clear to me as I’ve done more research that all of the smartest people pick Northanger Abbey as the best, so maybe I should start including that one.”
The Rev. Mr. Tilney would like to concur. 
