From Northanger Abbey
Isabella Thorpe
Catherine’s Bath friend • Dramatic and fickle
A fashionable, dramatic young lady who rushes to be Catherine’s best friend and loves gossip, bonnets and spooky novels.
Who is Isabella Thorpe?
Isabella Thorpe is a lively, fashionable young woman whom Catherine meets in Bath. She is four years older than Catherine and full of big feelings and bigger promises. She loves bonnets, balls and gossip, but her friendship turns out to be more about getting what she wants than about being truly kind.
Isabella Thorpe is a character in Northanger Abbey, the 1817 novel by Jane Austen, retold for ages 6–9 by Sean Lee.
What is Isabella Thorpe like?
- dramatic
- charming
- fickle
Isabella Thorpe’s story
Isabella is the eldest daughter of Mrs. Thorpe, a widow who was at school with Mrs. Allen. She and Catherine become friends almost at once in the Pump Room, and they spend happy hours reading spooky novels and talking about the latest fashions.
When Catherine’s brother James arrives in Bath with Isabella’s brother John, Isabella and James soon become engaged. Isabella is delighted at first, but her smile fades when she learns they must wait two or three years and live on a modest income. She begins to flirt with Henry’s dashing older brother, Captain Frederick Tilney.
Isabella breaks her promise to James, but Captain Tilney never means to marry her. She writes Catherine a sweet letter asking her to help patch things up with James, and Catherine, who now sees what Isabella is really like, does not answer it.
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.”
A moment to remember
Isabella hugs Catherine on the very day they meet and declares that they will be the dearest of friends.
Family and friends
- Catherine Morland: friend in Bath
- John Thorpe: brother
- Eleanor Tilney: a quieter kind of friend to Catherine
Talk about it
Isabella said lovely things but did not always mean them. How can we tell if a friend is true?
Questions about Isabella Thorpe
- Who does Isabella Thorpe end up with?
- No one. She breaks her engagement to James Morland to flirt with Captain Tilney, but he leaves Bath and never marries her.
- Is Isabella a good friend to Catherine?
- Not really. She is fun and affectionate, but she often ignores Catherine’s wishes and cares most about money and admiration.
- How do Catherine and Isabella meet?
- Their chaperones, Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Thorpe, were old school friends, and they meet again in Bath’s Pump Room.
Read the story in
Northanger Abbey
Ages 6–9, 72 pages
