Clermont (novel) "Midnight Bell", "Orphan of the Rhine", and "Horrid Mysteries". Those will last us some time. Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid? —"Northanger Abbey", ch. 6 "Clermont", as well as the other "horrid novels", were once thought to be the creations of Jane Austen's imagination, however research in the first half of the 20th century by Michael Sadleir and Montague Summers confirmed that they did actually exist and stimulated renewed interest in the Gothic. Clermont (novel) Clermont is a Gothic novel by Regina Maria Roche. It was first published in 1798 by
Northanger Abbey begun during that period, probably about 1794. However, the references to several Gothic novels published after 1794 would indicate Austen did not finish the book until about 1798 or 1799 as Cassandra Austen remembered. The scholar Cecil Emden argued that differences between the Catherine portrayed in the Bath section of the novel vs. the Catherine at Northanger Abbey were due to Austen finishing the book at a different stage of her life than when she started. As in all of Austen's novels, the subjects of society, status, behavior, and morality are addressed. "Northanger Abbey," however, being chronologically the first novel