This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.
Book: “Northranger” by Rey Teciero and Bre Indigo (Ill.)
Publishing Info: HarperAlley, June 2023
Where Did I Get This Book: The library!
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muñoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner’s mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret.
Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary–but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas–real life can be way scarier.
When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there–in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry.
But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get… complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother’s death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Bloom comes a modern love story so romantic it’s scary.
Review: A few years ago our book club read “Northanger Abbey”, making it the third Jane Austen book I’ve read and making me feel that much more cultured. It was fine, I enjoyed the discussion, but outside of “Emma” which I genuinely loved it was just adding an Austen notch to the belt. But when I saw “Northranger”, a graphic novel by Rey Teciero and illustrated by Bre Indigo, cross my feed, and that it was a modern retelling of “Northanger Abbey” with a queer romance, I knew that I HAD to read it.
Teciero easily reinterprets the themes and story of “Northanger Abbey” and remixes them into a modern American setting with queer themes. I loved the new location of rural Texas, and I REALLY loved how Catherine Morland, naive clergyman’s daughter who loves Gothic novels, changes into Cade Muñoz, a closeted queer Latino teen who loves horror movies. Instead of going into social society as a potential bride for suitors in Bath, Cade and his stepfather go to work on a ranch for the summer to help ends meet, and meets the Tyler family. There’s the harsh General, who owns the ranch, and his twin children, Henrietta (who prefers to go by Henri), and Henry. There is, of course, some mysteriousness surrounding Henry and his father, and Cade, being a horror movie buff, lets his mind wander to think the very worst of them, especially once they get to the family vacation home Northranger and tensions run high. In terms of adaptations, “Northranger” is pretty clever with how it brings the other characters into the story, while mining a bit more complexity from them. Antagonists John and Isabella Thorpe are no longer scheming siblings, but a bitter ranch hand named John who struggles with resentment and substance abuse, and his flirty and carefree daughter Bella. Eleanor is now Henri, who is jovial and supportive of both her brother and Cade, and Mr. Allen is now Cade’s stepfather Dale, who served with The General in the military. While they are different from their Austen counterparts, they all feel pretty in line with the base personalities and inspirations, just better fitting in with modern sensibilities.
But what was a bit of a parody of Gothic sensibilities in the source material turns into a far more melancholy (but also very sweet) story about identity, anxieties, and how sometimes people who are always scared due to things they can’t control turn to horror as an escape. Catherine is seen as a naive for this in “Northanger Abbey”, but in “Northranger” Cade has a LOT he is carrying. He’s a closeted queer teen living in rural Texas, where his sexuality could very easily put a target on his back, and his love of horror isn’t so much as fanciful or used as humorous, but is more an exploration of his inner fears. Henry, too, has a lot of things that he is carrying, and his character COULD be seen as suspicious and strange because of how HE is coping with his own inner struggles. Sometimes this could make for moments where I wasn’t completely certain that Cade and Henry were in a healthy burgeoning relationship, or led to moments where I thought that Henry was REALLY in need of some introspection (not to mention thinking this was a bit repetitive at times), but apart from these uneasy moments I did like the romance between the two characters as they explored their feelings and unpacked their personal baggage. The core themes from the Austen story are still here, but Teciero brings new life to it with more complex issues.
And finally, I liked the artwork by Bre Indigo quite a bit. It feels easy going and easy to digest, while having moments of more realistic designs that popped off the page.
“Northranger” is a charming and emotional remix of a Jane Austen classic! I would definitely be interested in seeing what else Rey Teciero writes in the future, reimagined classics or not!
Rating 8: A creative and sweet retelling of a classic Gothic romance, “Northranger” is a lovely graphic novel about seeing horrors everywhere and finding peace within yourself.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Northranger” is included on the Goodreads lists “YA Modern Austen Retellings”, and “Queer Books Set in Texas”.
The Library Ladies 