READING TIME · JANE AUSTEN · 1817

How long does it take to read Northanger Abbey?

At an average reading speed, about 4 hours 55 minutes. Northanger Abbey is 77,345 words long, in 31 chapters.

WORDS: 77,345
CHAPTERS: 31
READING LEVEL: About grade 9 (Flesch–Kincaid)

Reading time at different speeds

Total reading time for Northanger Abbey at three reading speeds
Reader	Speed	Whole book
Unhurried	200 words a minute	6 h 25 min
Average adult reader	260 words a minute	4 h 55 min
Quick reader	320 words a minute	4 h

To finish it at a steady pace:

20 minutes a day: about 15 days
30 minutes a day: about 10 days
60 minutes a day: about 5 days

How many chapters are in Northanger Abbey?

Northanger Abbey has 31 chapters. The longest is Chapter 10 (3,932 words, 15 min); the shortest is Chapter 31 (1,265 words, 5 min). The average chapter takes 10 min.

Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.

Words and reading time for each chapter of Northanger Abbey
Chapter	Words	Reading time	Practice in Parlor
Chapter 1	1,392	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 2	2,198	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 3	1,722	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 4	1,297	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 5	1,268	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 6	1,684	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 7	2,825	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 8	2,722	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 9	3,295	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 10	3,932	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 11	3,010	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 12	2,032	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 13	3,111	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 14	3,387	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 15	3,178	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 16	2,747	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 17	1,413	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 18	2,076	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 19	1,515	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 20	3,157	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 21	2,968	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 22	3,389	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 23	2,519	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 24	2,800	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 25	2,921	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 26	2,552	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 27	1,309	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 28	3,484	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 29	3,331	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 30	2,846	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 31	1,265	5 min	Check it →

READING IT FOR CLASS?

Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.

Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read Northanger Abbey one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.

Read a chapter. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.

Open Northanger Abbey in Parlor →How Parlor practices reading comprehension

Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.

How these numbers were worked out

Words are counted in Northanger Abbey, Project Gutenberg eBook #121, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.

Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.

The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (19.8 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.

Similar length

Also by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice 7 h 50 min
Sense and Sensibility 7 h 40 min
Emma 10 h 15 min

All reading times →