The novel opens with a description of its heroine, Catherine Morland. She is the daughter of a clergyman and one of ten children. Catherine is thin and awkward, with pale skin and flat hair. Growing up, she prefers activities and toys typically reserved for her brothers, and has few, if any, accomplishments. Generally, Catherine is a poor student in all her subjects, and she is overjoyed every time one of her tutors is released from the family’s service.

By the age of fifteen, Catherine’s physical appearance is “mending,” as she grows into her body and begins curling her hair. Catherine soon develops an intense love of novels, especially the macabre gothic novels popular at the time. Catherine has never been in love, and no one has ever been in love with her, because she has not had opportunities to meet people in Fullerton, the small village where she grows up. As her interests become more traditionally feminine, her parents remark that she is “almost pretty,” which Catherine takes as a wonderful compliment. At age seventeen, Catherine is invited to accompany a Mr. Allen to his property in Bath.