The Lit List – Go West!

Top 10: books set in the West Country

Intrigue! Romance! Piracy! Rich in history and folklore, the region’s dramatic coastline and untamed countryside have long inspired literature. So, heave ho, me hearties, for ten of the best books set in the West Country.

1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – Manderley is inspired by du Maurier’s home at Menabilly near Fowey, Cornwall
2. In Memoriam by Alice Wynn – Preshute School is based on Marlborough College, Wiltshire
3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – features Bath as ‘the Big City’
4. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson – The Admiral Benbow Inn is reputedly based on The Llandoger Trow, King Street, Bristol
5. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn – The South West Coast Path, from Minehead to Poole Harbour
6. An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie – Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol
7. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy – Puddleton and Waterstone Manor near Dorchester are the inspiration for Weatherby and Weatherby Farm
8. Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore – Clifton, Bristol
9. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore – Exmoor, Devon
10. Rough Music by Patrick Gale – The fictitious coastal village of Polcamel is set somewhere between Padstow and Port Isaac, North Cornwall

Bubbling under

• The Hiding Places by Katherine Webb – Slaughterford, Wiltshire

If you liked this literary list, see here for more Lit Lists and book reviews.

Love reading? Want to meet like-minded people? Pop along to the Burton Book Club for novel chat.