At only 3 hours in length, the abridged Penguin Audiobooks version of Northanger Abbey is rather short; however, it is adequate to give the reader a good sense of the characterization and plot. The narration by Jill Balcon is also adequate, but not more than that. I found it insufficiently expressive, and the narrator makes no attempt to render the different character's voices in different tones or styles. Further, the sound quality of the cassette tape is not optimal; it has a muffled sound that required the volume to be turned up quite loud. I suspect there are better audio versions of this fine Jane Austen novel available. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reviewing the novel in audio format. ( )