Northanger Abbey was one of Jane Austen's earliest manuscripts; Persuasion was her last. Published together in a single volume after her death, the two books differ widely. Northanger Abbey is a spirited, Gothic parody, while Persuasion has increasingly been seen as a new direction for the Austen canon. The two texts have been widely analysed and debated since publication, and continue to be so today.

In this Readers' Guide, Enit Karafili Steiner:
- Delineates a clear trajectory through the books' many interpretations over two centuries, mapping these out thematically and chronologically.
- Contextualises and brings into dialogue influential approaches such as psychoanalytical criticism, structuralism, deconstruction, Marxism, New Historicism, and feminism.
- Discusses film adaptations of the novels and their relation to literary criticism.