The Children of the Abbey The Children of the Abbey The Children of the Abbey is a novel by the Irish romantic novelist Regina Maria Roche. It first appeared in 1796, in London in 4 volumes, and related the tale of Amanda and Oscar Fitzalan, two young people in love who are robbed of their rightful inheritance by a forged will. Her third novel, it was a major commercial success, remaining in print for most of the 19th century, although its critical reception suffered from its original publication by the sensationalist Minerva Press. "The Children of the Abbey" was also mentioned in Jane Austen's popular
Northanger Abbey the match between Catherine and Henry is implied as both smart and fitting. Tenille Nowak has noted that critics and editors of "Northanger Abbey" often suggest that the names Laurentina and St Aubin appearing in the text are misrememberings of character names from "Udolpho"; Nowak observes that due to there being very few copies of "The Orphan of the Rhine" available these critics did not realise that the names actually appear in their exact form Sleath's novel. Nowak observes other instances where Sleath's novel is echoed by Austen, particularly in her descriptions of place. A passage from the novel appears